They can believe whatever they want, if most people hate what they're doing they won't win elections.
I really don't understand why so many people think Spanberger's win is evidence against what i'm saying. She was a white blonde woman who beat out a black guy who texted about shooting republicans and their kids. She's mentioned hating wokeshit, she's been pro right to work, and pro police and pulled the ire of troons (granted that's not hard to do). Her entire platform was basically centered around "lowering household costs" which is basically the safest possible angle you can take.
Is she based? No, of course not, but she's objectively less retarded than the likes of lori lightfoot, kamala, AOC, or anybody the 11% mentioned above would prefer.
If you think she's lying with a forked tongue fine, but she got elected by avoiding clown world not embracing it. That doesn't necessarily indicate what she believes but it indicates what left wing voters want.