By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and OLIVIA DIAZ, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address next week, just months after resoundingly winning an office previously held by a Republican.

The Democratic rebuttal will immediately follow Trump’s address to Congress next Tuesday, offering the party’s most high-profile opportunity to deliver a countermessage.

Spanberger, who served three terms in Congress, became Virginia’s first female governor earlier this year. She won the race by a double-digit margin, campaigning on affordability and lowering costs for families.

“Gov. Spanberger will lay out a clear path forward: lower everyday costs, protect healthcare, and defend the freedoms that define who we are as a nation,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in announcing Spanberger as the party’s pick that she “embodies the best of America as a mother, community leader and dedicated public servant.”

On the campaign trail last year, Spanberger also spoke out against the White House’s gutting of the civil service, an issue that hit particularly hard in Virginia, home to a large number of federal workers.

“Those who have devoted their lives to public service, you are worried about an administration that is gilding buildings while schools crumble, breaking the social safety net and sowing fear across our communities,” Spanberger said at her inauguration. “Betraying the values of who we are as Americans.”

Last year’s record-breaking government shutdown also hit the state’s sizable federal workforce, leaving many employees without pay for weeks.

The federal government is once again partially shut down as Democratic leaders in Congress and the White House remain at an impasse over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The shutdown, which began Saturday, is likely to stretch into Trump’s address Tuesday, with no agreement in sight.

As a former CIA case officer, Spanberger has tied her political career to her public service and national security credentials. She also has pitched herself as a mother of daughters educated in Virginia’s public schools and a Capitol Hill veteran who often worked across the aisle.

In the months since winning the election, she has vowed to work with the president when they are aligned, but also has taken more pointed digs at the White House.

Diaz reported from Richmond, Virginia

With the final seconds ticking away in the first period of their Class AA State Tournament opener on Thursday morning, Hill-Murray coach John Pohl found himself paraphrasing a popular Taylor Swift song.

“The quote we use from time to time is, ‘We’ve seen this movie before,’ ” Pohl said, recalling a handful of games from the Pioneers’ 24-3-1 season, so far, where the defending state champions have out-shot foes by a large margin but have been frustrated by a hot goalie.

Lakeville North forward Elise Reilly (19) skates with the puck against Hill-Murray during the second period of a Class 2A quarterfinal game of the State Girls Hockey Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2026. (Matt Blewett / Special to the Pioneer Press)

The Pioneers were outshooting Lakeville North 20-1 at the time, but had not yet solved Panthers goalie Beth Bigalke, who came to St. Paul on the strength of a pair of overtime shutouts in the section playoffs.

When it was all over, and Hill-Murray had won walking away, advancing to Friday evening’s semifinals with a 6-1 victory at Grand Casino Arena.

It was Addy McLay’s goal with seven seconds remaining in the first period that helped break things open. Olivia Braunshausen set up McLay for the goal, and said that not panicking, either due to the lack of early scoring or the ticking clock, was key in the opening 17 minutes.

“We had a faceoff in our D zone with I think like 32 seconds left, and I knew we were short on time,” Braunshausen said. “Addy was wide open and I know she can rip that home, so I was like, ‘I’ve gotta get this to Addy,’ and she did it.”

Hill-Murray broke it open in the second period with Braunshausen getting the eventual game-winner early in the middle frame, and Reese Unklesbay scoring one of her two goals in the game to give the Pioneers a 4-0 lead after two.

Starting goalie Piper Tam stopped all four shots she faced in the first two periods plus, with Charlotte Oscarson coming on in relief late. Allie Abeln cut to the net to score late for Lakeville North, which will take a 17-10-2 record into the consolation round.

“We came across a buzzsaw today,” Panthers coach Buck Kochevar said, calling Hill-Murray the best team his program has faced in eight trips to the state tourney. “They’re well-oiled and proved that they’re a top-end team, for sure.”

Bigalke finished with 38 saves for Lakeville North in the loss.

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By SCOTT BAUER

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Robin Vos, who has led the Republican charge in Wisconsin during his record-long stint as state Assembly speaker and blocked much of the Democratic governor’s agenda, announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of the year.

Vos, who also drew President Donald Trump’s ire for not aggressively challenging Trump’s loss in the battleground state in 2020, made the announcement from the floor of the Assembly. Vos is in his 22nd year in the Assembly and 14th year as speaker.

Vos has served during a tumultuous time in Wisconsin politics, in which the swing state became a national leader in curbing union powers, was a key battleground in presidential elections and was at the center of redistricting fights over Republican-friendly maps championed by Vos.

To his political opponents, Vos has been a shadow governor who shrewdly used his legislative majority to create a dysfunctional state government focused on advancing the conservative agenda and denying Democrats any victories they could tout.

To his supporters, Vos has been a shrewd tactician who outmaneuvered his political foes, sometimes within his own party, to become one of the state’s most influential Republicans in a generation.

Vos told The Associated Press that he suspects Democrats will be “happy that I’m gone.” But he had a message for his conservative detractors: “You’re going to miss me.”

Vos worked to curb union power, fight Democrats

Vos was a close ally of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and helped pass key parts of his agenda, including the 2011 law known as Act 10 that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. Vos also led the fight to pass several tax cuts, a “ right to work ” law and a voter ID requirement — legislation strongly opposed by Democrats.

When Democrat Tony Evers defeated Walker in 2018, and after the top Republican in the Senate won election to Congress two years later, Vos emerged as the leader of Republicans in state government and the top target for those on the left.

Vos successfully thwarted much of Evers’ policy agenda the past seven years. He kneecapped Evers even before Evers took office in 2019 by passing a series of bills in a lame duck session that weakened the governor’s powers.

“I’ve been tenacious and I’ve fought for what our caucus wants,” Vos said.

Vos and fellow Republicans ignored special sessions Evers called and successfully fought to limit his powers during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Vos led the lawsuit to overturn Evers’ stay-at-home order, resulting in Wisconsin becoming the first state where a court invalidated a governor’s coronavirus restrictions.

Vos angered some fellow Republican

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Vos angered some within his own party, most notably Trump, who criticized him for not doing enough to investigate his 2020 loss in Wisconsin. Vos eventually hired a former conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice to look into the election, but later fired him amid bipartisan criticism over his effort that put forward discounted conspiracy theories and found no evidence of widespread fraud or abuse.

The episode amounted to a rare misstep for Vos, who is now advocating for revoking the former justice’s law license. Vos has repeatedly said that hiring Gableman was the biggest mistake he ever made.

Trump endorsed Vos’ primary challenger in 2022 and his supporters mounted multiple unsuccessful efforts to recall Vos from office. Vos decried those targeting him as “whack jobs and morons,” and he held on to extend his run as Wisconsin’s longest-serving speaker, eclipsing Democrat Tom Loftus, who held the position from 1983 to 1991.

Democrats eyeing a majority

Vos grew the GOP majority under Republican-drawn legislative maps before the state Supreme Court ordered new ones in 2023, resulting in Democratic gains in the last election. The Republicans held as many as 64 seats under Vos, but that dropped to 54 in what will be Vos’s final year.

Democrats are optimistic they can take the majority this year, while Vos said he remains confident that Republicans will remain in control even without him as speaker.

Vos, 57, was first elected to the Assembly in 2004 and was chosen by his colleagues as speaker in 2013. He became Wisconsin’s longest-serving speaker in 2021.

Vos said he had a mild heart attack in November that he didn’t reveal publicly until Thursday, but that’s not why he’s leaving.

“It was the tap on the shoulder that I needed to make sure that my decision is right,” he said.

Vos said it was “unlikely” he would run for office again, but he didn’t rule it out.

Vos was college roommates with Reince Priebus, who was chair of the Republican National Committee in 2016 and served as Trump’s first White House chief of staff.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The search for the “next man up,” has begun.

With news of Pablo López’s injury, which very well might wind up with the starter needing season-ending Tommy John surgery, the Twins suddenly are looking for someone to step up and fill an, unexpectedly, open rotation spot.

The Twins have touted their rotation depth from the start, and now they’ll get a chance to see it in action. Zebby Matthews will have his first in-game chance to make an impression on team’s decision-makers when he takes the ball on Friday in the Twins’ spring opener against the University of Minnesota, a game that is set for 5:05 p.m. Central at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla.

“I’m going to do my best in spring to earn a rotation spot,” Matthews said. “If it works out, that’s awesome. If not, then I’ll be ready in Triple-A whenever they make the call and need me back up.”

Matthews spent the beginning of last season at Triple-A but was in the majors much of last season, making 16 starts sandwiched around a shoulder strain that kept him out for part of the summer.

His focus this offseason — and his continued focus as camp gets underway — is on his execution, particularly with his offspeed pitches.

“I’ve got the stuff. I’ve got the pitches. Just trying to fine tune and execute,” Matthews said. “If you look at some of the better starters in the league, you look at what they’re able to do locating their pitches, missing to their advantage, that sort of stuff. Big focus on that.”

Across 16 major league starts last season, Matthews had a 5.56 ERA, mixing in some clunkers with some stretches of dominance. In his second-to-last start of the season, he gave up nine runs in three innings. In his final outing, he went seven innings and gave up one run on four hits against the Texas Rangers.

Now, with major league experience in each of the past two seasons, he’s looking to find more consistency, as he has in the minors. What that looks like, manager Derek Shelton said, in this case, is making sure he’s “able to manipulate the plate and off the plate in specific counts.”

“We’ve seen over the time, he’s got really good stuff and flashes that,” Shelton said. “I think for a young pitcher, just to be more consistent is probably the main theme.”

Twins “hunt the good”

When Shelton first heard strength and conditioning coach Chuck Bradway drop the phrase “hunt the good,” during a staff retreat in Minneapolis last month, the new Twins manager knew he was going to steal it. Now, it’s written atop the Twins’ daily schedule that’s posted on the walls every day, and Shelton made sure to include the phrase in his speech to the group as camp begun.

“It was something that organically came up in a staff conversation about how we wanted our staff to relate to players and what we wanted them to feel because the game is based on so much negativity,” Shelton said.

To illustrate their point, they highlighted Hall of Famer Tony Oliva, a career .304 hitter. Along the way, that meant failing every seven of 10 times.

“Our game is based on failure,” Shelton said. “I want to make sure our coaches and our players focus back towards what the good thing about every day is.”

Briefly

The Twins’ game against the University of Minnesota will last seven innings. The Twins will have a couple of major leaguers play in Friday’s game, but Shelton said he expects most of the rest of them to play within the first couple games. … Joe Ryan will start Saturday’s game.

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