Democrat Abigail Spanberger Cruises to Victory in Virginia Governor Race

Democrat Abigail Spanberger is projected to become the next governor of Virginia, securing a resounding win for her party in one of the most closely-watched races of 2025. The win will help Virginia Democrats move ahead with a plan to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms, an attempt to counter GOP redistricting efforts in red states.

The Associated Press called the race at 7:59 pm ET, just an hour after polls closed, with 54.9% of the vote for Spanberger and 44.9% for her Republican opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears.

Spanberger held a consistent lead throughout the campaign, framing the contest as a check on the Trump administration and the impact its policies have had on Virginia, which is home to one the nation’s highest concentration of federal workers. Virginia’s current governor, Republican Glenn Youngkin, is term-limited.

The AP also called the lieutenant governor’s race at 8:28 pm ET, with State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D) beating conservative talk show host John Reid and becoming the first Muslim woman to win a statewide race in the U.S.

Control of the House of Delegates had not yet been called by 10 pm ET, but Democrats were on track to hold the General Assembly.

Democratic nominee Jay Jones won his race for attorney general, defeating incumbent Republican Jason Miyares. That race was thrown into disarray recent weeks after texts surfaced in which Jones discussed the hypothetical killing of a Republican state lawmaker and his kids. Jones expressed regret, calling the messages a “grave mistake,” but he fell behind in polls and lost support from Democrats including Spanberger. Miyares had called on him to drop out of the race. 

Miyares has also gotten involved in the redistricting effort currently roiling the statehouse. Virginia Democrats jumped into the nationwide redistricting frenzy in October, with Democrats kick-starting a complicated process that involves changing the state’s constitution to allow for the drawing of a new congressional map. The move followed President Trump’s explicit directive for red states to draw more Republican-friendly maps to help the party take more seats in the 2026 midterms; Texas and North Carolina have already followed through, with Indiana poised to do so as well. 

That process is trickier in states like Virginia, which has an independent redistricting commission requiring voters to sign off on any changes to the redistricting process. In the tight window before next year’s midterms, the proposal would need to pass the full General Assembly in two separate sessions and then be put on the statewide ballot in a special referendum next spring or summer so voters can weigh in, allowing lawmakers to create new districts before the general election in the fall. It will also have to survive the legal challenges Republicans are sure to launch.

But so far, momentum is with Democrats. Both houses of the General Assembly passed the amendment just before Halloween, weathering an initial lawsuit from their colleagues across the aisle. Republicans, including Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares, argued that the amendment represents an “unconstitutional” power grab intended to snatch power away from Virginia voters. Democrats have countered that they are only acting in response to the “extraordinary circumstances” set into motion by the Trump administration.

“There’s no maps, no proposal to dissolve the commission or anything else,” state Sen. Mamie Locke, one of the Democrats crafting the plan, said, according to the Washington Post. “At the end of the day, it will be the voters’ decision.”

The amendment grants lawmakers temporary, emergency powers to redraw maps in the event that another state redraws its lines for politically suspect reasons. (Typically, redistricting only happens after the decennial census or in response to lawsuits.) 

“What they are doing at this moment is keeping alive the option of taking action into the future,” Spanberger told the Associated Press when asked about the plan.