The Democrat makes history as Virginia’s first woman governor.
WASHINGTON — Abigail Spanberger will be Virginia’s next governor, AP projects.
Spanberger, a Democrat, beat current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to replace Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She will be the first woman to lead the commonwealth.
Her campaign emphasized economic issues, particularly affordability and the impact of federal government policies on Virginia’s significant federal workforce. Spanberger framed the race as one about making Virginia more affordable and ensuring government responsiveness to the state’s needs.
“At this moment where it feels like everything here at home in Virginia is under attack from this Congress and this White House, we need a governor committed to being steady,” Spanberger told supporters at a rally last week.
She started her career as a case officer in the CIA, where she worked undercover focusing on counterterrorism and nuclear proliferation. After that, she worked in the private sector before running for Virginia’s 7th congressional district.
Spanberger flipped the seat, becoming the first Democrat elected in that district in more than 50 years, and served from 2019 to 2025. As a U.S. representative, she often worked on bipartisan legislation and served on the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee of Foreign Affairs.
During the sole debate, she condemned Earle-Sears’s past remarks opposing same-sex marriage and supporting firing employees for being gay, in a viral moment where Earle-Sears interrupted her to say was not discrimination.
Though she said she wasn’t planning on redistricting over the summer, when Virginia Democrats began pushing for it at the end of October, she said she would not oppose it.
Her win continues a Virginia trend of the opposite party or the sitting president winning the governor’s seat, which was only broken once in the last 13 elections, in 2013.
President Barack Obama endorsed Spanberger.