The year began with 25 questions for 2025. Now we have 25 answers. Here they are:
1. Who will be elected governor?
The gubernatorial election was the big political news in Virginia this year. From April onward, when primary ballots were set, we knew we’d have our first woman as governor — and in November we learned she will be former Rep. Abigail Spanberger. Spanberger won with the biggest margin for any Democratic candidate for governor since Albertis Harrison in 1961 and will take office Jan. 17 as our 75th governor.
2. Who will be elected lieutenant governor?
The lieutenant governor’s race produced some unexpected twists. Richmond broadcaster John Reid became the Republican nominee by default when Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity dropped out due to health issues; then Reid had Gov. Glenn Youngkin try to push him out of the race. Reid also made history: He was the first openly gay candidate nominated statewide by a major party in Virginia.
Chesterfield state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi was the surprise winner of the Democrats’ six-way contest; former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney had been the favorite but couldn’t win his home city, which cost him the race.
Reid ran a spirited race and received more votes than his party’s candidate for governor, but it still wasn’t enough. Hashmi won easily, making her the first Muslim woman to win a statewide election anywhere in the U.S., and the first Indian-American to win statewide in Virginia. Reid won’t be going away: He’s planning to launch a podcast, The Reid Revolution.
3. Who will be elected attorney general?
More history: Former Norfolk Del. Jay Jones will become Virginia’s first Black attorney general. This wound up being the most controversial race of all after it was revealed Jones had once sent texts to a fellow legislator in which he fantasized about shooting the Republican speaker of the House. He takes office with that cloud still hanging over him.
4. Who will win the House of Delegates?
Democrats won, and in a big way. They went into the election with a 51-49 margin in the House. They wound up flipping 13 Republican seats (and came oh so close to a 14th). We have some special elections in early January to fill vacancies where Spanberger has tapped legislators for cabinet positions, but those are all in safe districts. Barring some upset, Democrats should have 64 seats to just 36 for Republicans, their biggest margin since the 1987 election.
The western part of Virginia will get three new legislators, two through retirements, one through an election defeat. Jed Arnold, R-Smyth County, retired; he’s being replaced by Mitchell Cornett, R-Grayson County. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, also retired; he’s being replaced by Madison Whittle, R-Danville. Meanwhile, in a rematch of their 2023 race, Chris Obenshain, R-Montgomery County, was defeated by Lily Franklin, D-Montgomery County. She’ll be just one of two Democratic legislators west of Charlottesville (Sam Rasoul of Roanoke is the other) and the only Democratic legislator west of Roanoke.
5. How will Donald Trump’s deportations impact Virginia?
This is a hard question to quantify. Trump vowed to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.” He’s not there yet. His administration says more than 605,000 people have been deported. The record appears to be 1.3 million during the Eisenhower administration. My intent a year ago in asking the question was to get at the economic impact of deportations. I’ve yet to see a study that provides an answer. The pro-immigration American Immigration Council reports that “deportations are already having an impact on the agricultural supply and on the construction industry” because “the 10 states with the highest concentration of undocumented immigrants in the construction industry saw a 0.1% drop in construction employment at a time when other states saw a 1.9% increase.” However, that study doesn’t say whether Virginia is one of those 10 states or whether there could be some other cause for this economic drop. That brings us to …
6. How will Trump’s tariffs impact Virginia?
This is more quantifiable. Port traffic through Hampton Roads, both imports and, more crucially, exports, is down. The latter can at last be partly attributable to other countries imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made goods, discouraging sales or simply finding other suppliers. Economic reports from both Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy and the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service warn that tariffs have imposed a drag on the state’s economy by raising prices and injecting uncertainty.
7. Who will be elected mayor of Lynchburg?
The Hill City has a 6-1 Republican advantage on the council, but one of the most sharply divided local governments around. The 2024 elections saw two new Republicans join the council, strengthening the hand of one faction at the expense of the other. No one was surprised when that new council majority declined to reelect Stephanie Reed as mayor. Instead, Larry Taylor was something of a compromise choice, although that brought little peace to Lynchburg’s intraparty warfare. By year’s end, the mayor had ousted one of the council members who voted for him (Marty Misjuns) as chair of the council’s finance committee.
8. What other turmoil might we see on the Lynchburg City Council?
See above.
9. Who will take Joe Cobb’s seat on the Roanoke City Council?
Cobb, the city’s vice mayor, was elected mayor in 2024. That opened up his council seat. Former city treasurer Evelyn Powers, who just missed winning a seat in the 2024 elections, was tapped to replace him.
10. What will the General Assembly do?
With a Democratic legislature, a Republican governor and elections pending, nobody expected major legislation to wind up becoming law, and it didn’t. Instead, what we saw were less-controversial measures that still might be important to somebody. For instance, Bristol was granted more authority to deal with blighted property, with the former Virginia Intermont College property in mind. The state board that owned the Explore Park was given permission to transfer its 1,100 acres to Roanoke County, which has been managing the site anyway. Minors will no longer be handcuffed or restrained in juvenile court hearings unless necessary. Minors’ access to social media was also restricted.
11. What moves, if any, will we see to give the state more power over the location of solar projects?
This was probably poor wording on my part in framing the question a year ago. Moves? Yes, we saw moves. Actual laws? None. There was a legislative push to set regional targets for power generation, but even those regional targets were too much for some legislators who represented rural areas, and the measure was defeated.
12. What moves, if any, will we see to restrict the growth of data centers?
Similar question, same problem, same outcome. The most significant efforts to restrain the spread of data centers were killed in the General Assembly.
13. Will construction start on Virginia’s first on-shore wind farm?
Yes, finally. First proposed in 2015, the Rocky Forge wind farm in Botetourt County saw construction get underway. It’s expected to begin operation in 2026, with Google buying the power.
14. What will happen with the proposals for small nuclear reactors?
Studies are still underway for the small modular reactor Dominion Energy has proposed for its North Anna nuclear power station and the one that Appalachian Power has proposed for its Joshua Falls substation in Campbell County. (Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.)
15. Will the Atlantic Coast Conference remain intact?
For now, yes. Two of its marquee schools, Clemson and Florida State, had gone to court to challenge the “grant of rights” that gives the league control over their TV grants. A victory would have made it easier for the schools to exit the ACC and join other conferences, which might pay them more money (assuming those other conferences wanted them). The schools and the ACC settled in March in a deal that saw the conference adjust its revenue distribution in ways that Clemson and Florida State liked better — and also reduced the exit fees schools might have to pay. As it turns out, those two schools also posted lackluster performances this year — 7-5 for Clemson, 5-7 for Florida State.
16. Will ‘skill games’ get legalized?
Nope. Not this year. But you can still find the electronic games in plenty of places, which brings us to …
17. Will we continue to see the spread of open (and illicit) cannabis sales?
Yep.
It’s legal to possess small amounts of weed. It’s illegal to sell it, but we still see plenty of places try to get around that through “gifting” arrangements or by declaring themselves private “membership” clubs, although the qualification for membership is often little more than simply walking in. We also see vape shops doubling as cannabis distributors. “Richmond has at least 87 vape shops,” The Richmonder reported. “Police say most are selling marijuana.”
18. What progress will be made on Amtrak to the New River Valley (and Bristol)?
Construction on the Amtrak station in Christiansburg is now underway, with service projected to begin in August 2027. As for an extension to Bristol, that’s much discussed but needs that extension from Roanoke to Christiansburg first.
19. How quickly can the Virginia Creeper Trail be restored?
Hurricane Helene, which hit in September 2024, did severe damage to the popular 34-mile trail. The stretch from Abingdon to Damascus reopened a few days after the storm. However, the second half of the trail from Damascus to its end at Whitetop Station had 18 trestles taken out and some parts of the trail washed away entirely. The disaster relief package that Congress passed in December 2024 included $600 million for the Creeper Trail. The formal repair work began this month and is expected to take about a year.
20. Will Carilion Clinic get approval for a kidney transplant program in Roanoke?
Yes. The University of Virginia had opposed Carilion’s application, but the state granted permission in May. Surgeries are expected to begin in 2026.
21. What will happen with the New College Institute?
Youngkin has tried to persuade the higher education center in Martinsville to come up with a new business plan. There had been talk of NCI becoming part of Patrick & Henry Community College. The NCI board rejected that particular proposal in November but directed its staff to continue merger talks. Youngkin has once again zeroed out funding for NCI in the second year of his proposed budget, but a new governor takes over in January and her views on the subject are unknown.
22. Will Patrick County’s hospital reopen?
Yes, next week. A Tennessee health care company acquired the vacant facility and has been working to reopen it. Cardinal’s health care reporter, Emily Schabacker, has this story on the Jan. 5 opening.
23. What impact will Sweet Briar College’s admission policy have?
In 2024, the women’s college in Amherst County revised its admissions policy to specify that by “women” it meant only students who “confirm that her sex assigned at birth is female and that she consistently lives and identifies as a woman.” That rules out trans students but also women who may have some other gender identity. The school’s enrollment fell in 2025, from 438 to 373, but it’s unclear how much of that was due to the admissions policy or other enrollment challenges that all colleges are facing — notably a smaller pool of college-age students caused by declining birth rates. Averett University, Emory & Henry College and the University of Lynchburg also saw enrollment declines.
24. Will we see more armadillos in Virginia?
If so, we haven’t heard about them. The armor-plated critters are waddling north. Some have been sighted in the past in Virginia, as far north as Roanoke, but so far, no breeding population has been found. If you see a ‘dillo, let us know!
25. What will happen that we don’t know to ask about?
Lots.
The answer to this question could go on and on. Danville City Council member Lee Vogler was attacked, set on fire and nearly died but made a miraculous recovery. Roanoke said it wants a casino. The Appalachian School of Law in Grundy said it’s talked to Roanoke College about moving to Salem. Virginia Tech fired its football coach and hired another. The best college football team in the state this year was in Harrisonburg, at James Madison University, which qualified for the 12-team playoff (then lost). The Salem Red Sox changed their name to the Salem RidgeYaks. The manager of the Natural Bridge Zoo went to jail rather than reveal what happened to two baby giraffes that a judge ruled belonged to the state. Martinsville fired its city manager, with a special prosecutor now looking into her tenure. The Democratic majority in the General Assembly is making moves to redraw congressional lines in time for the November 2026 midterms. Both Botetourt and Wythe counties landed data centers, with the Botetourt one coming from some company called Google. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
What should we look for in the new year? Come back Friday, where I pose 26 questions for 2026.
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