Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney on Tuesday ended his gubernatorial bid, saying that he would run for lieutenant governor instead. Stoney’s decision puts Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Henrico County, who was the first candidate to jump into the 2025 race in November of last year, on a clear path to win the Democratic nomination to become the 75th governor of Virginia.
“After careful consideration with my family, I believe that the best way to ensure that all Virginia families do get the change they deserve is for our party to come together, avoid a costly and damaging primary and for me to run instead for lieutenant governor,” Stoney said in a statement released shortly before 6 a.m.
Less than two hours later, Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, who’s not even halfway through his first term in the state Senate, announced his own bid for lieutenant governor.
“With extreme Republicans fixated on stripping our fundamental freedoms and funding corporate tax breaks on the backs of everyday Virginians, and Donald Trump on the ballot again, there is no margin for error. Democrats must retake control of our statewide offices in 2025,” Rouse said in a statement.
Tuesday’s announcement leaves Spanberger as the sole Democratic contender for the state’s top office. Having outraised Stoney — until Tuesday the only other Democrat seeking his party’s nomination — with $3.6 million to $758,000, it is unlikely that she will head into the 2025 election year facing another intra-party challenge.
No Republican has yet announced a bid to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin, whose term expires in January 2026, although there has been chatter in Richmond that Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares might throw their hats into the ring in the near future.
Spanberger’s early bid last year gave her an advantage in the Democratic nomination contest. A former operations officer for the CIA, she was first elected to Congress in 2018, when she defeated incumbent Rep. Dave Brat, R-Henrico County, ending the Republican Party’s 38-year hold on the district. She won reelection twice after that, positioning herself as a centrist in her party’s field.
Spanberger’s decision to run for governor came after the new legislative maps approved by the Virginia Supreme Court in December 2021 deprived her of what had been her base in the Richmond suburbs ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Spanberger was widely viewed as one of the most vulnerable incumbents in that election cycle, but she nonetheless defeated Republican nominee Yesli Vega with 52.3% of the vote, winning the redrawn seat by her widest margin to date. The new 7th District is considered a key swing district in the battle for the control of the House this year, with seven Democrats and six Republicans vying to succeed Spanberger in Congress.
Stoney on Tuesday became the second Democrat to announce his bid for lieutenant governor during this election cycle, after Dr. Babur Lateef, a physician from Prince William County. Stoney said in a statement that if elected, he would be “an effective advocate” for Virginia families to ensure that everyone in the state gets a fair shot at success.
“Given everything at stake in the next governor’s race — from reproductive rights to education funding and tax fairness — I believe this is a time when Democrats must stand united and avoid an ugly primary for governor,” Stoney said.
Stoney’s primary opponent, Rouse, is a former NFL star who has previously served on the Virginia Beach City Council. On Tuesday he had already bagged endorsements from powerful Democrats in the state Senate, over which the lieutenant governor presides, including Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth and the Senate President pro tempore, and Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Mamie Locke, D-Hampton.
“When Aaron Rouse was elected, it guaranteed that no abortion ban would make it past our pro-choice brick wall in the Virginia Senate,” Lucas said in a statement. “He has held the line against Republican attacks on a woman’s right to choose, on Virginia workers, on public education, and so much more. Aaron has had my back in the Senate, and I am proud to endorse his campaign for lieutenant governor.”
Locke said in a statement that Rouse represents “the next generation of leadership” that Virginia needs.
“We are making progress with our Democratic majorities in the General Assembly but not fast enough,” Locke said. “We need change at the top in order to move our commonwealth forward. From protecting abortion rights to saving our democracy from another Trump presidency, we need a fighter. And Aaron Rouse knows how to fight and win.”
