Democrat Abigail Spanberger to make history as Virginia's 1st female governor, flipping governorship blue
Democratic candidate and former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger made history Tuesday with her projected win in Virginia's governor race, besting current Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, and becoming the first woman elected to the position.
"Tonight we sent a message," Spanberger said to a cheering crowd of supporters during a speech after her projected victory.
She added, "We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025 Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our commonwealth over chaos."
Spanberger, who held a steady lead over Earle-Sears in most polls since last year, centered her campaign around improving the economy and lowering the cost of living for Virginians throughout the race.
The results of the Virginia gubernatorial election -- which comes during an election off-year -- are often viewed as a political bellwether for competitive races in the midterms the following year.
The governor's race was of particular interest this year because Virginia is home to more than 300,000 federal workers, many of whom were likely affected by efforts made by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency to slash the federal workforce and the current government shutdown that has no end in sight.
Historic victory in No. 2 race
ABC News also projected Democratic candidate Ghazala Hashmi would win her race for lieutenant governor, beating Republican John Reid.
Hashmi is the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office in U.S. history.
A former state lawmaker, she flipped her Richmond area state-senate seat blue in 2019, helping Democrats mount a historic takeover of the statehouse, is t
What preliminary exit poll data reveals about Spanberger's win
At the top of the ticket, Spanberger notched her projected victory with strong support from political independents and support from voters concerned about the economy, according to preliminary ABC News exit polling.
Nearly half of Virginia voters said that the economy was the most important issue facing the commonwealth, and they supported Spanberger by roughly 20 percentage points, according to the preliminary exit polling.
Among independent voters in Virginia, Spanberger led by a double-digit margin, according to preliminary exit polling. In the 2021 gubernatorial election in the Commonwealth, Republican Glenn Youngkin, who won the election, had support from over half of independents.
Roughly 6 in 10 Virginia voters said that federal government cuts affected their family’s finances -- and by about a 2-to-1 margin, they supported Spanberger over Earle-Sears, according to the preliminary exit polling.
Spanberger also saw strong support from voters motivated by the issue of abortion. About 6 in 10 Virginia voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases -- and 8 in 10 of them supported Spanberger, according to the preliminary exit polling.
What happened on the campaign trail
During the campaign, Earle-Sears missed no opportunity to try to link Spanberger to Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones’ recent texting scandal, in which he was revealed to have called for violence against a Republican lawmaker. At this month’s gubernatorial debate, Earle-Sears went after Spanberger for refusing to call on Jones to drop out of the race in a moment the Earle-Sears campaign turned into an ad.
"Would it take him pulling the trigger? Is that what would do it?" Earle-Sears questioned. "What if he said it about your three children? Is that when you would say it’s time to get out of the race, Abigail?"
And in a strategy reminiscent of the one Donald Trump used in 2024 against Kamala Harris, Earle-Sears has launched a slate of ads attacking Spanberger for her stance on the rights of transgender students in Virginia schools. But polls do not suggest that Earle-Sears’ attacks are resonating with Virginians, who cite threats to democracy, inflation, and health care as their top concerns in this election, according to a recent poll from Christopher Newport University.
According to the same poll, Spanberger led Earle-Sears by seven points in the closing days of the race.
Earle-Sears was not directly endorsed by Trump and during a tele-rally for Virginia's Republican candidates on Monday night, Trump did not mention her by name.
