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Virginia Democrats in the state’s House of Delegates introduced a resolution on Tuesday that would establish a task force to investigate the Virginia Military Institute and determine if the historic military college should continue to receive funding.
The move is the latest of Virginia Democrats’ efforts to reinvigorate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy in the state after much of the DEI mandates and policies were revoked after President Donald Trump was elected in 2024.
“This takes away from VMI, takes away from its mission,” Virginia Republican Congressman Rob Wittman told Fox News Digital. “I think that it’s harmful to the Commonwealth of Virginia, harmful to VMI as an institution, harmful to all the incredible military leaders and community leaders that have come out of VMI.”
Republican lawmakers are blaming Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger and renewed DEI efforts for what they describe as an ideological push that could jeopardize the nation’s oldest state-supported military college. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images / Photo by Greg Nelson /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“It’s just reprehensible that they would even go down this road,” Wittman added. “But, it seems to be what’s happening in Richmond.”
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Wittman, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, represents the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula and parts of the Peninsula of Virginia. He attended Virginia Tech University and was a member of the core of cadets, which he says had a friendly rivalry with VMI.
VMI was founded in 1839, making it the oldest public senior military college in the country. VMI has had several notable graduates, including sitting Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, and Lt. Gen. John “Dan” Caine, Trump’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz attended VMI. (Adam Gray/Getty)
Wittman was not the only member of Congress who voiced concerns about the potential Democratic-driven demise of the nation’s first state-funded military college.
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Congressman Pat Fallon, R-TX, also serves on the House Armed Services Committee and pointed to newly elected Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger as the culprit of the threat to VMI.
“Less than a month in office as governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger has shown a commitment to turning the commonwealth into California,” Fallon told Fox News Digital. “The left’s renewed focus on VMI is not intended to benefit our military.
“Instead, it’s yet another avenue to tear down an institution that has developed exceptional leaders and statesmen who have made significant contributions to our nation, such as George C. Marshall, Mike Waltz, and the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, whom I had the privilege of serving with in the Air Force,” Fallon added.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger speaks during inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Steve Helber/AP)
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In 2021, then-Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered a state-sanctioned investigation into VMI’s DEI structure. An investigation which specifically looked for racism and sexism. The audit came in President Joe Biden’s first full year in the White House, when DEI policies were running rampant at universities and corporations across the country.
One of Spanberger’s first acts since being elected was appointing Northam to VMI’s Board of Visitors.
“To appoint disgraced former Governor Ralph Northam, a man of poor moral character, to the Board of Visitors at VMI is an insult to our nation’s oldest state-supported military school and the leaders it produces,” Fallon told Fox News Digital. “He has no business overseeing VMI, and leftists like Spanberger can’t help themselves from advancing their radical, far-left agenda.”
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered an investigation into VMI in 2021.
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Spanberger has received sharp criticism for many of the liberal policies she has implemented in her short time in office, including an executive saying local and state law enforcement are no longer required to cooperate with ICE, a reversal from a previous order issued by former Republican governor Glenn Youngkin.
“Screw any and all of you who lied to low-information voters and sold Abigail Spanberger as some kind of moderate,” Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, posted to social media. “She’s been in office like 6 hours and is already trying to turn Virginia into Minneapolis.”
George W. Bush speaking to cadets at the Virginia Military Institution in 2002. (Photo by PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Should the legislation introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates make it to Spanberger’s desk, it is possible that the military institution will not survive if state funding is revoked.
“There is no logic, there is no logical reason why you would do this,” Wittman told Fox. “If you have issues with VMI, many of those have played out in years past, the institution has done everything that the General Assembly has asked for them to do.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston