Campaign manager Samson Signori was recently recognized as one of the leading minds behind Abigail Spanberger’s historic win as Virginia’s first female governor. Before his rise to this role, Signori was a three-sport letterman at McLean, hoping to make a positive difference in the world one day.

Signori graduated as part of McLean’s Class of 2013, excelling in three varsity sports—football, wrestling and lacrosse.

“McLean High School was super formative for me,” Signori said. “I loved the community, the teachers and the students. [Football] was my main activity. I also played lacrosse, and I was on the wrestling team. The teamwork and work ethic those activities instilled in me are [skills] that I carried on with me through life.”

Signori realized his interest in politics only after graduating from McLean.

“I didn’t really take an interest in politics until 2016, when Donald Trump was elected,” Signori said. “I knew that when I graduated from high school, I wanted to do something that took advantage of my skill set but was also meaningful. I wasn’t very politically involved in high school. For people who don’t know what they want to be when they grow up in high school, that’s perfectly fine.”

During his time as an economics major at Wake Forest University, Signori experienced his first calling in politics when he canvassed for Roy Cooper’s successful campaign for governor of North Carolina.

“I really enjoyed the energetic nature of it. I loved building the sense of community around a candidate and around a message,” Signori said.

At the end of the campaign, he had a conversation with Cooper’s campaign manager, who told him there was a whole industry designed for helping get candidates elected.

“From that conversation I was like, ‘Wait a minute, this is awesome. I’ve got to try this out.’ I thought it was a really nice balance of analytics, team management, civic engagement and ultimately doing something that actually solidified into into real results.”

Campaigning for Cooper marked a pivotal moment in Signori’s career.

“I just remember the sense of awesome victory the night [of Cooper’s win], and it was enthralling,” Signori said. “I wanted to continue to [work in politics] from there.”

After graduating from Wake Forest in 2017, Signori returned to Virginia to apply his skills to the state’s unique political dynamic.

“Because there is an election every single year, I think that Virginians have heightened expectations over their elected leaders,” Signori said. “This means that in Virginia, you have to run races that are smarter, more integrated and that are more strategic.”

Signori gained experience in Virginia by campaigning for Gov. Ralph Northam in 2017 and Rep. Jennifer Wexton in 2018. At 24 years old, he managed his first campaign for a competitive congressional election in the Central Valley of California. After his candidate won that race, Signori returned home in 2021.

“I got hired to run Spanberger’s 2022 congressional re-election [after] I ran [Jay] Jones’ [first attorney general] race in 2021,” Signori said. “At the end of the campaign, [Spanberger and I] started having the conversation about what a governor’s run might look like.”

Their pragmatic planning led to the early launch of her gubernatorial campaign in November of 2023.

“Our campaign for governor was actually the longest gubernatorial campaign in Virginia history. We ran this campaign for two years, [and] our priority was to go to every single corner of the Commonwealth of Virginia and hear directly from voters about the challenges that were impacting their daily lives.”

Signori’s team used message discipline, a political campaign strategy that focuses on a strong, memorable campaign message for a candidate, to elevate Spanberger’s message.

“What we heard from voters was that they were looking for a governor who could work together with both parties to lower costs for Virginians, and that’s why we ultimately built a campaign that was relentlessly focused on lowering costs every single day,” Signori said. “[Our team made the message really clear] that [Spanberger] is going to work with anybody to deliver for Virginians on the thing that matters most, which is lowering costs and boosting the economy.”

Connor Joseph, Spanberger’s chief communications strategist, witnessed Signori’s talent as a campaign manager.

“[Signori] was critical in ensuring the campaign stayed consistent from the launch in November 2023 through Election Day in 2025,” Joseph said. “[He helped us] present a united front—same priorities, same framing and the same belief in the governor-elect’s vision—[and] the rest of the Democratic ecosystem followed our lead and stayed on the same page, helping drive major victories across Virginia and up and down the ballot.”

Spanberger’s team focused on appealing to young voters’ greatest concerns, especially the economy.

“I think a lot of young voters saw a potential for a much brighter future for themselves [with Spanberger as governor], and I think that’s ultimately one of the reasons why [there was] such high turnout with youth voters,” Signori said.

Signori and Spanberger worked tirelessly to attract new voters by campaigning across the commonwealth.

“Abigail and I were at a diner in Tazewell. We were talking to an older man and a Trump voter, who [thought] Republicans would have brought back jobs to that area, but he felt very betrayed by the party,” Signori said. “Abigail spoke to him about the work she had done as the most bipartisan member of Congress and how she put together real, actionable plans that were going to lower costs and boost the economy. And I remember, by the time we walked out of that diner, he was going to vote for Abigail.”

Winning by over 15 points, Spanberger made history with the highest margin win from a Democrat for governor of Virginia since 1961.

“On election night, I was backstage with [Spanberger], [and] there was this moment right before she went on stage to announce her victory,” Signori said. “[I] could feel that history had just been made in electing the first female governor, and that was a moving moment for me.”

With the campaign at an end, Signori is assisting with Spanberger’s transition into office in January.

“I would like to help make sure that Spanberger is the most effective governor that Virginia has ever had,” Signori said.

Signori hopes to continue his work, generating interest in political campaigning for the younger generation.