She was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in Virginia's 2nd congressional district in the 2000 election She was the Democratic Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in the 2009 election, and was defeated by Republican incumbent Bill Bolling.

[5] She is a former president of the Jewish Family Services of Tidewater and former board member of the Eastern Virginia Medical School.

[9] In December 2005, incoming Virginia governor Tim Kaine announced Wagner as the state's first female Secretary of Finance.

[10] Wagner resigned as Secretary of Finance effective August 8, 2008, and was succeeded in that post by state budget director Ric Brown.

On the filing deadline of June 9, 2020, Wagner announced she would run for Mayor of Virginia Beach in the November 2020 election against incumbent Bobby Dyer.