RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrat Abigail Spanberger won Virginia’s governor’s race on Tuesday, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl Sears to give Democrats a key victory ahead of the 2026 midterm elections and make history as the first woman ever to lead the commonwealth.
A victory for Spanberger would flip partisan control of the governor’s office when she succeeds outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
“We have sent a message to every corner of the commonwealth, a message to our neighbors and fellow Americans across the country,” Spanberger told cheering supporters Tuesday night in Richmond. “We have sent a message to the entire world that in 2025, Virginia has chosen pragmatism over partisanship. We have chosen our commonwealth over chaos.”
Also on Tuesday, Democrat Ghazala F. won. Hashemi is in the race for lieutenant governor and will succeed Earl Sears. Hashemi is the first Muslim woman to win statewide office in the United States
Spanberger, a former congresswoman and CIA official, won by focusing on economic issues, a strategy that may serve as a model for other Democrats in next year’s elections as they try to break President Donald Trump and Republicans’ grip on power in Washington and make gains in statehouses.
While campaigning, Spanberger often sidestepped the historic potential of her candidacy. In victory, I embraced her.
“Just a few minutes ago, Adam said to our daughters, ‘Your mother is going to be governor of Virginia.’ And I can guarantee those words have never been spoken in Virginia before,” she said.
“It is huge that the girls and young women I met during the election campaign now know for sure that they are capable of achieving anything.”
Spanberger’s eyes sparkled as she told her family she loved them, while her husband and three daughters stood behind her, wiping tears from their cheeks.
Spanberger was intentional in how she criticized Trump
Throughout the campaign, Spanberger made carefully crafted economic arguments against Trump’s policies, while spending heavily on ads to link Earl Sears to the president. She campaigned throughout the state, including Republican-leaning areas, and in her first appearance as governor-elect she wore a bright red suit.
However, Spanberger also emphasized her support for abortion rights in the last Southern state to not enact new restrictions or bans on the procedure, and criticized the Trump administration for government inefficiency, the US government shutdown and its negative impact on a state with several hundred thousand federal employees.
This approach has helped rally Democrats’ core supporters while attracting the kind of swing voters who elected Youngkin four years ago. It also continued Virginia’s historical trend: Since Jimmy Carter won the White House in 1976, Virginia has supported a governor of the opposite party for every first-term president the following year. This year constitutes a special case, given the gap between Trump’s two terms.
Meanwhile, Republicans must once again face a battleground loss to a hardline conservative from the president’s party.
Trump has never campaigned for Earl Sears, though he has given her his lukewarm support. Their uneasy alliance raises questions about the ideal Republican nominee for the disputed general election, and how the president’s volatile standing among voters could affect GOP candidates next November. The midterm elections will determine control of the House of Representatives in dozens of states and determine whether Republicans maintain the majority in Washington during the final years of Trump’s presidency.
Earle Sears, 61, was the first black woman elected governor of the United States
Spanberger’s balanced politics and biography
Spanberger, 46, promised to protect Virginia’s economy from the aggressive tactics of the second Trump administration, which culled the civil service, imposed tariffs and sponsored a reconciliation bill that would limit the state’s already fragile health care system.
Stephanie Ohl, a 38-year-old Defense Department employee, said the federal government shutdown was one of the reasons she voted for Spanberger. She explained that she was working without pay. “I can afford it just fine,” she said, but added that she was upset “because it affects a lot of other people.”
Spanberger’s background also figured heavily in her win. As a former CIA officer, she cited her credentials in public service and national security. She introduced herself as a mother of daughters who attended public schools in Virginia and a veteran Capitol Hill member who represents a swing district and has worked across the aisle.
The pitch helped the Democratic nominee withstand Earl Sears’ attacks on cultural issues, particularly the Republican’s assertion that Spanberger is an extremist on civil rights and health care for transgender people. Spanberger, who has consistently argued that local school districts should decide whether transgender students can participate in competitive sports, portrayed her opponent as a candidate out of touch with Virginia’s electorate.
Its strategy mirrored the approach Democrats used to flip control of the US House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections, midway through Trump’s first term. Spanberger was among several prominent women who brought security or military credentials to campaigns in combat zones. Among those women is Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who was elected Tuesday to become New Jersey’s Democratic governor.
Together they were held up as examples of successful Democrats at a time when the party’s left wing was on the rise, most notably Zahran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist who was elected mayor of New York on Tuesday.
In Congress, Spanberger was a quiet workhorse
When she first arrived in Washington, Spanberger focused on less important issues: bringing broadband to rural areas, combating drug trafficking, and veterans services. She quickly gained a reputation for working with colleagues from across the political spectrum.
In her new role, she will face a tightening economic outlook, rising utility costs, and rising unemployment — partly due to the Trump administration’s federal contraction. But it may have the advantage of a friendly legislature if Democrats can maintain their majority in the House of Delegates. All 100 seats in that chamber were voted on Tuesday, as were other statewide offices, including lieutenant governor and attorney general. The state Senate, also controlled by Democrats, was not on the ballot this year. If Democrats have a so-called trifecta in Richmond, as Republicans now do in Washington, they could enact many of the policy priorities that lawmakers presented to Youngkin only for him to veto the bills.
Spanberger won despite a late upset that threatened the Virginia Democratic ticket. In October, news reports revealed that Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, sent text messages in 2022 suggesting that the former Republican House speaker take “two bullets to the head.”
Republicans across the US, including Trump and Earl Sears, have called on Jones to withdraw. He apologized and said he was ashamed of the messages, but he refused to leave the race.
Spanberger sparked controversy. She condemned the text messages but stopped short of calling on Jones to withdraw from the race, and in particular did not withdraw her endorsement.
“I denounced political violence and political rhetoric, regardless of who is leading the charge,” Spanberger said in her one-on-one debate with Earl Sears.
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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Helen Weavering contributed from Arlington, Virginia.