Democrat Abigail Spanberger wins governor of Virginia

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.

Watch live: Abigail Spanberger addresses supporters after winning the Virginia governor’s race

A Spanberger victory would flip partisan control of the governor’s office when the former congresswoman and CIA case officer succeeds outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She won with a campaign focused 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.

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. However, she has also emphasized her support for abortion rights in the last Southern state not to impose new restrictions or bans on the procedure, and has criticized the Trump administration for government inefficiency, the US government shutdown and its negative impact on a state with hundreds of thousands of 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.

Live results: Virginia 2025 gubernatorial election

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, pledged to protect Virginia’s economy from the aggressive tactics of the second Trump administration, which suspended civil service, imposed tariffs and sponsored a reconciliation bill that would limit the state’s already fragile health care system.

Accountant Sheri Cohan, 56, who cast her ballot at the Aurora Hills Library in Arlington, said she used to consider herself a Republican but has not felt aligned with either party since Trump’s first term. She said her vote for Spanberger was a vote against Trump.

Stephanie Uhl, 38, who also said she voted for Spanberger, had the idea of ​​shutting down the federal government in mind when she cast her ballot at the library in Arlington, across the river from Washington.

She was the first to work unpaid at the Department of Defense, and although she said, “I can afford this just fine,” 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 voters.

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. One of those women, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, was running 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, a democratic socialist and the party’s nominee in Tuesday’s New York mayoral contest.

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.