Virginia held its elections Tuesday for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates. Democrat Abigail Spanberger has been elected as the state’s first female governor, according to an AP projection. In the race for lieutenant governor, voters will choose either the first openly gay Republican or the first Muslim woman to serve in a statewide office anywhere in the country.
Governor’s race
Virginia elected Spanberger the state’s first female governor, according to an AP projection. She topped Republican Winsome Earle-Sears in a historic contest that was widely being watched as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term and a snapshot of the nation’s political mood ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Lieutenant governor’s race
Democrat Ghazala F. Hashmi, a former English professor, faces Republican John Reid, a former conservative talk-radio host. If elected, Hashmi would be the country’s first Muslim woman to win statewide office. If Reid prevails, he would be the nation’s first openly gay Republican elected to a statewide post.
Attorney general’s race
Voters in Virginia will choose their next attorney general in a race that was shaken by a scandal over violently worded text messages.
The candidates — Democrat Jay Jones, a former state delegate, and Republican Jason S. Miyares, the incumbent attorney general — pitched starkly divergent visions for the role. But much of the national attention on the race focused instead on leaked 2022 text messages in which Jones mused about shooting the former GOP speaker of the House of Delegates in the head.
He apologized and resisted calls to drop out, as Republicans sought to paint him as unfit for office. If elected, Jones, the heir to a prominent family of civil rights leaders, would be the first African American elected to the Virginia attorney general’s office. Miyares, 49, was the first Latino elected statewide in Virginia when he won the office in 2021.
House of Delegates
All 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates were on the ballot Tuesday, in an election with even higher stakes after Democrats unveiled a surprise plan to redraw the state’s congressional map — the latest move in a growing national redistricting arms race. The strategy hinges on the party holding or widening its 51-48 majority with one vacancy in the lower chamber.
