Red Bank native wins Virginia congressional seat

Monmouth County has a new congresswoman, sort of.

Abigail Davis Spanberger, who ousted Republican Rep. Dave Brat in Virginia, was born in Red Bank and lived in New Jersey until she was 13.

Spanberger has some similarities to Rep.-elect Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair).  Both worked for the federal government before flipping a longtime Republican House seat.  The Virginia 7th had a Republican congressman for 38 years; the New Jersey 11th had one for 34 years.

Sherrill grew up in Virginia and is about to be congresswoman from New Jersey.  Spanberger was from New Jersey will now represent Virginia.

Spanberger started out in politics as a U.S. Senate page when Chuck Robb was a Senator, and later worked as a federal postal inspector investigating money laundering cases and as an operations officer for the CIA.

Brat was a two-term incumbent who had ousted House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the 2014 Republican primary.