Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office says SNAP participation in Virginia has fallen by more than 150,000 people since June 2025. The figure came on October 20, when the governor launched a coalition of 32 organizations to help residents keep food and health benefits under the federal law passed last year.
The next change for Virginia shoppers arrives in nine days: on November 1, 2026, sweetened carbonated drinks stop being an allowed SNAP purchase.
What the governor announced on October 20
The governor’s release names the group the Virginia United Coalition and says it brings together 32 organizations. Members include food banks such as the Capital Area Food Bank and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, health plans such as Aetna, Anthem, Humana and UnitedHealthcare, and groups such as United Way of Virginia, the Virginia Poverty Law Center and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association.
The release says the coalition will help Virginians understand the federal changes and keep their healthcare and food assistance, with enrollment and renewal help for both. The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy plans outreach through a network of more than 900 congregations, and Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia will run a referral process for people hit by the new work requirements for Medicaid or SNAP.
The numbers behind the drop
The release says that since June 2025, SNAP participation has declined in the Commonwealth by more than 150,000 people. It puts the number of Virginians on Medicaid who are at risk of losing coverage at more than 300,000. Both are the governor’s office’s own figures, and the release ties them to H.R. 1, the 2025 federal law it calls the One Big Beautiful Bill.
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USDA’s monthly state participation table, updated October 9, lists 741,868 people receiving SNAP in Virginia for July 2026, compared with 816,587 a year earlier. Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marvin Figueroa said in the release that families already have enough to manage without having to figure out these changes alone.
What changes at the checkout on November 1
The Virginia Department of Social Services says that beginning November 1, 2026, sweetened carbonated beverages will no longer be eligible for purchase using SNAP benefits. The department says the change does not alter a household’s benefit amount or the other foods it can buy with the card.
Virginia is one of several states with a start date of that day. USDA’s food restriction list shows Montana, North Dakota and South Carolina also set to begin on November 1, 2026. A household that shops across a state line would face a different rule on each side.
For a Virginia household that wants to keep its benefit, the question is what has to be done at renewal and what changes on November 1. The soda rule asks nothing of the cardholder beyond a different shopping list, and no form is involved. The renewal is the step with a deadline, and the Department of Social Services says adults who can work must work, take part in a work activity or meet an exemption to keep receiving benefits. Households that were on the older Virginia VaCAP program, which ended June 1, 2026, move to the Elderly Simplified Application Project at their next recertification, where the benefit depends on income and allowable expenses, not a fixed amount. The department’s SNAP page is the free place to start.
What the VaCAP change asks of older households
At recertification, the department says, households on the former VaCAP track will be asked for income, shelter and medical expenses, everyone living in the home, whether anyone works, and any lottery or gambling winnings of $4,500 or more. Changes to that information have to be reported afterward. The department notes that certification periods can still last up to 36 months.
A benefit programs specialist may need to speak with the household by phone. Anyone who applies or has a case question can reach the department at 833-522-5582, through its CommonHelp site, or at a local office. The department also warns that anyone who answered a suspicious call or text about an EBT card should call the official EBT customer service line at 1-866-281-2448.
What the state has budgeted to cushion the cuts
The governor’s release says the 2026-2028 state budget puts more than $500 million toward health care, including $150 million for a new Marketplace premium assistance program, a $225 million Federal Contingency Fund to offset federal reductions, and $15 million for community health centers, free clinics and outreach workers. None of that money is aimed at SNAP benefits themselves, so the food side of the response rests on the coalition’s renewal help.
Keeping Virginia SNAP past a renewal date: what has to be on hand?
A household that loses SNAP is not always one that stopped qualifying. The governor’s own figure of more than 150,000 fewer participants since June 2025 includes people who missed a notice, a call or a document request at renewal.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer includes 51 state packs, a renewal document checklist and a renewal and reporting calendar, so a Virginia household can see the papers an interview asks for and the dates for reporting changes. Its Part 2 walks through SNAP recertification step by step.
Get the Virginia SNAP renewal document checklist and calendar →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
