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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrat Abigail Spanberger received the Virginia governor’s race Tuesday, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to provide Democrats a key victory heading into the 2026 midterm elections and make historical past as the primary lady ever to guide the commonwealth.
Spanberger’s win was the primary in an enormous evening for Democrats in Virginia and across the nation, casting new doubts about President Donald Trump’s political power lower than a yr into his second White Home time period.
“We despatched a message to each nook of the commonwealth, a message to our neighbors and our fellow People throughout the nation,” Spanberger advised supporters Tuesday evening in Richmond. “We despatched a message to the entire world that in 2025, Virginia selected pragmatism over partisanship. We selected our commonwealth over chaos.”
Additionally Tuesday, Democrat Ghazala F. Hashmi received the lieutenant governor’s race and can succeed Earle-Sears. Hashmi is the primary Muslim lady to win a statewide workplace within the U.S. And in an evening of firsts, Democratic challenger Jay Jones defeated Republican Jason Miyares to change into the state’s first Black legal professional common and full a Democratic sweep of the commonwealth’s statewide posts. Democrats additionally retained management of the state legislature.
Spanberger, a former congresswoman and CIA case officer, received by emphasizing financial points, a technique which will function a mannequin for different Democrats in subsequent yr’s elections as they attempt to break Republicans’ maintain on energy in Washington and acquire floor in statehouses.
Campaigning, Spanberger usually sidestepped the historic potential of her candidacy. In victory, she embraced it.
“Only a few minutes in the past, Adam stated to our daughters, ‘your mother’s going to be the governor of Virginia.’ And I can assure these phrases have by no means been spoken in Virginia ever earlier than,” she stated.
“It’s an enormous deal,” she added, “that the women and the younger girls I’ve met alongside the marketing campaign path now know with certainty that they’ll obtain something.”
Spanberger’s eyes welled up as she advised her household she beloved them. Her husband and three daughters, standing behind her, wiped tears from their cheeks.
Spanberger was intentional in how she criticized Trump
All through the marketing campaign, Spanberger made fastidiously crafted financial arguments in opposition to Trump’s insurance policies, whereas she spent appreciable sums on advertisements tying Earle-Sears to the president. She campaigned throughout the state, together with in Republican-leaning areas, and in her first look as governor-elect, she wore a vibrant pink swimsuit.
But Spanberger additionally emphasised her help for abortion rights within the final Southern state that has not enacted new restrictions or bans on the process, and she or he railed in opposition to Trump’s Division of Authorities Effectivity, the U.S. authorities shutdown, and their destructive influence on a state with a number of hundred thousand federal workers.
That strategy helped corral Democrats’ core supporters whereas attracting the sorts of swing voters who elected Youngkin 4 years in the past. It additionally continued a historic pattern for Virginia: Since Jimmy Carter received the White Home in 1976, Virginia has backed a governor from the other occasion of each first-term president within the following yr. This yr is a particular case, given the hole between Trump’s phrases.
Republicans, in the meantime, should grapple once more with a battleground loss by an arch-conservative from the president’s occasion.
Trump by no means campaigned for Earle-Sears, although he did give her his tepid help. Their uneasy alliance raises questions concerning the supreme Republican nominee for contested common elections and the way the president’s unstable standing with voters may have an effect on GOP candidates subsequent November. The midterm elections will settle statehouse management in dozens of states and decide whether or not Republicans keep majorities in Washington for the ultimate years of Trump’s presidency.
Earle-Sears 61, would have change into the primary Black lady to be elected as a governor within the U.S.
“My opponent, Abigail, ran as a reasonable,” Earle-Sears stated in her concession speech. “If she governs as one, then she is going to unite us, and she or he’ll heal our divide and win our help. I hope and pray she does.”
