House Republicans are eyeing a prime pickup opportunity in Virginia, where Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., announced her retirement early on Monday.

Spanberger, a former CIA officer, is leaving the House to run for governor. 

"Nothing is going right for Democrats in Virginia’s Seventh District, but the NRCC is all hands on deck to flip this now-open seat and grow the House Republican majority," the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm, said minutes after Spanberger’s announcement. 

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"Spanberger joining the other swing-district Democrats racing for the exits makes House Democrats’ climb out of the minority that much steeper."

Her 7th Congressional District encompasses part of Northern and Central Virginia. Democrats’ chances of holding onto it sunk in response to Spanberger — the nonpartisan Cook Political Report downgraded the district from a "Likely" Democrat hold to just "leaning" blue.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

Spanberger’s district would not be a far-fetched victory for the GOP. She won the seat from Republican incumbent Rep. David Brat in 2018 and only narrowly won re-election both in 2020 and 2022. She was considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the last election cycle.

Republicans currently hold the House by a narrow four-seat majority.

Holding onto that edge will have to come with both flipping new swing districts like Spanberger’s and defending their own vulnerable members in places like New York. 

Cook Political Report projects 170 solidly Democratic seats compared to Republicans holding 190. The left is also projected to have 40 possible swing seats and 33 on the right.

"When we rise above the chaos and division, we can focus on what matters most to Virginians — lowering prescription drug prices, growing the middle class, lowering costs and easing inflation," Spanberger said in her campaign debut video.

"No more using teachers and our kids as political pawns. It's about focusing on recruiting and retaining teachers so all of our kids can succeed, and stopping extremists from shredding women's reproductive rights."

If she wins the Democratic primary, it will not be current GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin who Spanberger would be facing. Virginia’s constitution forbids governors from serving more than one consecutive term.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was blasted this week after its administrators acknowledged the university stopped short of expelling anti-Israel student protesters because of "visa issues."

MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in a statement Nov. 9 that the school would merely suspend students who participated in the disruptive protest from non-academic campus activities to avoid "collateral consequences for the students, such as visa issues." One day earlier, the Coalition Against Apartheid, a pro-Palestinian student group, conducted a large protest that Kornbluth confirmed defied MIT policies governing student actions.

"In late morning, the face-to-face confrontation between the protesters and counterprotesters intensified," Kornbluth said. "We had serious concerns that it could lead to violence. To prevent further escalation and protect the physical safety of everyone present – including both student protesters and passers-by in our busiest lobby — the administration felt it was essential to take action."

"The students will remain enrolled at MIT and will be able to attend academic classes and labs," she continued, noting some of the protesters' "visa issues." "We will refer this interim action to the Ad Hoc Complaint Response Team, which includes the chair of the Committee on Discipline, for final adjudication."

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MIT was quickly criticized for the decision because, prior to the disruptive protest, the school threatened to expel any students who acted in violation of its guidance and policies regarding such actions. Kornbluth's statement, they argued, appeared to contradict that previous promise.

"So MIT was going to suspend these students for clearly and deliberately violating the rules after repeated warnings, but decided not to because it could lead to their visas being revoked," A.G. Hamilton, a conservative comentator and author, wrote on X. "It seems that’s something the students should have considered beforehand…"

"'Visa issues' are not only a reason to suspend these pro-Hamas foreigners from school, but also to deport them immediately," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., added in a post of his own.

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Israel War Room, a group that tracks attacks against Jewish people, posted a video Sunday which appeared to show anti-Israel protesters boasting that they successfully got the university to "back down" from its prior threats. The group said in the post: "Who is in charge, MIT?"

"MIT didn’t want to punish antisemitic foreign students harassing American Jews on campus because suspension would lead to deportation under the student visa rules," conservative lawyer Marina Medvin said on X. "So MIT chose to help the antisemites instead of punishing them. Morality run amok." 

"MIT is one of the most prestigious universities in the U.S. These days, foreigners make up about 30% of the MIT student body," she continued. "Jewish students, on the other hand, make up about 6% of the MIT student body — a campus minority."

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Additionally, Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist who founded two left-wing groups, the New Democrat Network and the New Policy Institute, also criticized MIT administrators.

"This is not an easy time for University leaders but holy cow how is that okay?"

Meanwhile, Pro-Israel student group MIT Israel Alliance and its supporters have blasted school staff in recent weeks for having "no clear response" to the Coalition Against Apartheid’s alleged repeated harassment of Jewish students and staff members.

In a statement, the pro-Jewish group said, "With each passing day, MIT admin’s silence makes Jewish and Israeli students feel unsafe at MIT."

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MIT staff separately told Fox News Digital that the administration has "received additional complaints about conduct by individual protesters and counterprotesters, and will be following up on those promptly."

MIT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fox News Digital reporter Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.