Virginia has elected its first woman governor.
Democratic former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger was elected in a sweeping victory over Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears on Tuesday night.
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi was elected lieutenant governor after she beat her Republican challenger, former conservative radio host John Reid. And Democratic challenger Jay Jones beat incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares.
Spanberger was projected the winner by cable news outlets less than an hour after polls closed. The convention center room erupted in cheers where the governor-elect’s election night watch party took place in downtown Richmond.
She took the stage to address the roaring crowd and chants of “Abby!” about a half-hour later.
“My fellow Virginians, tonight we sent a message,” she said. “We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our commonwealth over chaos.”
Her victory speech struck a tone of unity. She told Earle-Sears supporters that her goal and intent is to serve all Virginians and said that she will work with “everyone” to move the commonwealth forward.
She listed off a number of policies that she said are actionable on day one. Those policies include an effort to lower the costs of home buying and renting, to lower health care costs, lower energy costs and produce more energy in the commonwealth, to grow Virginia’s economy by supporting career and technical education, to take politics out of schools and ensure teachers are well paid and well respected, and to make communities safer by providing training and funding for law enforcement.
She added that she plans to protect access to reproductive health care in Virginia, and to protect Virginia’s workers amid federal funding and workforce cuts.
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“As governor, my job will be to put Virginia first, full stop,” she said and called on Congress and the White House to work together to end the ongoing federal government shutdown.
Virginia’s off-year statewide elections are often considered a bellwether for how the midterm elections may go, as well as a referendum on the current presidential administration. Spanberger’s victory will be largely attributed to federal funding and workforce cuts handed down by the Trump administration to a state with a large population of federal workers, as well as the rising cost of living.
By 9 p.m., two hours after polls closed, Spanberger held a commanding 13 percentage point lead over Earle-Sears, and Hashmi held a nearly 10 percentage point lead over her Republican opponent.
The 2025 statewide elections saw a slate of firsts in Virginia: Former Del. Jay Jones was the first Black candidate for attorney general; state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi was the first Muslim and Asian American statewide candidate in her bid for lieutenant governor; Earle-Sears was the first Black woman to be nominated by the Republican Party as its candidate for governor; and John Reid, a Republican, was the first openly gay candidate of either party to be nominated for statewide office in his bid for lieutenant governor.
The slate of Democratic candidates won the day: Spanberger is governor-elect, Hashmi is lieutenant governor-elect and Jones is attorney general-elect, as well as the first Black man to ever hold the post. Spanberger had served in Congress for three terms after she flipped Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which had been represented by Republicans for decades prior to 2018.
In 2021, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin beat former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in an upset that saw voters frustrated with then-President Joe Biden and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earle-Sears had focused much of her campaign on wedge issues — including access to girls locker rooms and girls sports teams for transgender girls. Spanberger’s campaign focus shifted back and forth between affordability and framing herself as a firewall between Virginia and the Trump administration.
Hashmi remained out of the spotlight for much of the lieutenant governor’s race. Reid’s campaign began with a scandal, after he was tenuously linked to a Tumblr account that shared various kinds of pornography. That stain seemed to remain with Reid throughout the race.
The race for Virginia’s attorney general’s seat became the closest statewide contest after text messages with violent rhetoric sent from Jones to a former Republican colleague three years ago resurfaced in the National Review, a conservative-leaning outlet. That story launched a firestorm from Republicans nationwide who called for Jones to drop out of the race.
Incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares had called Jones’ texts “disqualifying” and eventually called for his opponent to withdraw from the election. Jones led Miyares by roughly 6 percentage points as of midnight.