Democrats are celebrating victory in Virginia as their candidate for governor is projected to win at the top of the ticket in Tuesday’s election, turning the state leadership from red to blue.
Voters headed to the polls to cast ballots in what was the first major election since President Donald Trump won a year ago, and Democrats had been looking to get back in the game after a series of brutal setbacks.
While Virginia’s elections do not always serve as a bellwether for the following year’s midterms, the contests on Tuesday have been seen as a referendum on Trump.
Leading up to and on Election Day, the president fired off a series of social media posts begging his followers in the state to show up and cast ballots for Republicans.
But as results rolled in on election night, nearly every county in the state appeared to have shifted blue from the presidential election in 2024.
With the polls now closed, Democrat Abigail Spanberger is projected to become the state’s next governor, winning the election against Republican nominee and current Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.
She is the first woman governor elected by the commonwealth.
Spanberger took the stage on Tuesday night at her election watch party to thunderous applause in Richmond, Virginia.
“Tonight we sent a message. We sent a message to every corner of the commonwealth, a message to our neighbors and our fellow Americans across the country. We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship,” she said.
She said the state was focused on solving problems, “not stoking division” and that she could not wait to get to work as the state turns a page.
“It is the honor of my lifetime to be elected the 75th governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia,” she declared.
She was joined on the stage by her husband Adam and three school-aged daughters.
During her speech, Spanberger touched on the federal workers from her state who have been struggling and called on both parties to work together to end the shutdown, but she did not mention Trump by name.
Spanberger is a former House member who represented Virginia’s seventh congressional district until earlier this year. She previously served as a U.S. intelligence officer.
The race has largely focused on the economy and Trump’s policies, as Virginia serves as the backyard to Washington, DC.
CNN exit polling on Tuesday found more than 6 in 10 Virginians said they were dissatisfied with or angry about the way things are going in the country. One in five said that someone in their household was employed by the federal government or as a contractor.
Spanberger seized on affordability and health care as well as the political turmoil coming out of the nation’s capitol. Heading into the final stretch, she campaigned with former President Barack Obama as well as the state’s two Democratic senators.
With her victory, the governor’s mansion will go from red to blue as Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin departs. He was elected in 2021, but unlike in other states, the governor of Virginia cannot serve consecutive terms, so he was not running.
However, Youngkin campaigned hard for his number two, Earle-Sears. While the lieutenant governor aligned herself with MAGA, she notably did not have Trump’s direct endorsement, even though he praised her candidacy.
Trump instead held a tele-rally on the eve of Election Day with Youngkin to boost GOP turnout, but none of the top Republican nominees for statewide office participated.
Meanwhile, Democrat Ghazala Hashmi is the projected winner of the race for lieutenant governor over Republican John Reid. She is a state senator who is making history as the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office.
At the same time, Democrat Jay Jones survived a scandal and is projected to be the next attorney general of Virginia.
Jones, a former member of the state assembly, came under fire last month following the release of a text conversation in 2022 he had with a fellow Virginia delegate in which he advocated violence against the then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his family.
He apologized for the messages but refused to withdraw from the race, even as some Democrats distanced themselves from him.
Jones will replace his GOP opponent Jason Miyares, who has been serving as attorney general of Virginia since 2022.
