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Abigail Spanberger Projected to Win Virginia Governor, First Woman to Lead the Commonwealth

The call caps a race defined by pocketbook concerns tied to federal workforce cuts and a shutdown in Trump’s second term, setting up immediate tests over power in Richmond and new congressional maps.

Overview

  • Major outlets including the Associated Press and NBC project Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, flipping the governor’s office from GOP control as Glenn Youngkin terms out.
  • Democratic state senator Ghazala Hashmi is reported to have won the lieutenant governorship, becoming the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office in Virginia.
  • The attorney general contest between Democrat Jay Jones and Republican incumbent Jason Miyares remains too close to call after late-campaign fallout from Jones’s 2022 violent text messages, which he apologized for.
  • Spanberger’s campaign emphasized affordability, abortion rights and public safety, and highlighted the impact of federal cuts and the government shutdown on Virginia’s large community of federal workers.
  • All 100 House of Delegates seats were on the ballot with multiple competitive races, and Democrats’ push to reclaim authority over redistricting faces ongoing legal challenges from Miyares.