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Tag: Virginia

  • Virginia teacher shot by student wins $10M in lawsuit against administrator

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    A jury in Virginia on Thursday awarded $10 million to a former teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student and later accused an ex-administrator in a lawsuit of ignoring repeated warnings that the child had a gun.

    The jury returned its decision against Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.

    Abby Zwerner was shot in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom. She had sought $40 million against Parker in the lawsuit.

    Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, required six surgeries and does not have the full use of her left hand. A bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains in her chest.

    Parker was the only defendant in the lawsuit. A judge previously dismissed the district’s superintendent and the school principal as defendants.

    The elementary school student shot his teacher in Virginia with his mother’s handgun.

    The shooting sent shock waves through this military shipbuilding community and the country at large, with many wondering how a child so young could gain access to a gun and shoot his teacher.

    The lawsuit said Parker had a duty to protect Zwerner and others from harm after being told about the gun. Zwerner’s attorneys said Parker failed to act in the hours before the shooting after several school staff members told her that the student had a gun in his backpack.

    “Who would think a 6-year-old would bring a gun to school and shoot their teacher?” Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano, told the jury. “It’s Dr. Parker’s job to believe that that is possible. It’s her job to investigate it and get to the very bottom of it.”

    Parker did not testify in the lawsuit. Her attorney, Daniel Hogan, had warned jurors about hindsight bias and “Monday morning quarterbacking” in the shooting.

    ““You will be able to judge for yourself whether or not this was foreseeable,” Hogan said. “That’s the heart of this case.

    “The law knows that it is fundamentally unfair to judge another person’s decisions based on stuff that came up after the fact. The law requires you to examine people’s decisions at the time they make them.”

    The shooting occurred on the first day after the student had returned from a suspension for slamming Zwerner’s phone two days earlier.

    Zwerner testified she first heard about the gun prior to class recess from a reading specialist who had been tipped off by students. The shooting occurred a few hours later. Despite her injuries, Zwerner was able to hustle her students out of the classroom. She eventually passed out in the school office.

    Zwerner testified she believed that she had died that day.

    “I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven,” Zwerner said. “But then it all got black. And so, I then thought I wasn’t going there. And then my next memory is I see two co-workers around me and I process that I’m hurt and they’re putting pressure on where I’m hurt.”

    Zwerner no longer works for the school district and has said she has no plans to teach again. She has since become a licensed cosmetologist.

    Parker faces a separate criminal trial this month on eight counts of felony child neglect. Each of the counts is punishable by up to five years in prison in the event of a conviction.

    The student’s mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for felony child neglect and federal weapons charges. Her son told authorities he got his mother’s handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom’s purse.

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    John Raby and Erik Verduzco | The Associated Press

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  • Promises of lower energy bills win big on election day

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    Key races in New Jersey, Virginia and Georgia made it clear that energy affordability was on the ballot this election day as Democrats who campaigned on the issue swept the field.

    Candidates in the three states campaigned on tackling rising energy costs through renewables, such as wind and solar, or by supporting the Trump administration in promoting fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal.

    Trump has said that ramping up the production of fossil fuels will “unleash American energy” and save taxpayers money. But residential electric bills have increased about 10% nationwide this year — from 15.9 cents per kilowatt hour in January to 17.6 cents at the end of August, according to the latest available data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    At the same time, wind and solar remain the least expensive form of new-build electricity generation, according to the financial advisory firm Lazard.

    The race for New Jersey governor saw Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill face off against Republican Jack Ciattarelli after state residents saw a roughly 20% price spike in electricity rates this year driven by reduced supply and growing demand from data centers and a slow rollout of renewables, among other challenges.

    Sherrill campaigned heavily on the issue, vowing to declare a state of emergency on utility costs on her first day in office and institute a utility rate freeze.

    “Prices are spiking because of a huge power shortage — I’ll transform New Jersey’s energy picture to build new, cheaper, and cleaner energy generation, bring down families’ bills, and put the Garden State on track to hit our emissions and clean air goals,” Sherrill wrote in her campaign materials.

    Ciattarelli, meanwhile, vowed to implement a state energy master plan fueled by natural gas, nuclear and solar power but not offshore wind, which he promised to ban. “I will cap property taxes for families and freeze them for seniors, while killing offshore wind farms and expanding safe and clean natural gas and nuclear to lower electricity rates, which are currently out of control,” he told the NJ Spotlight News.

    Ciattarelli also called for pulling the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a market-based program to reduce planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in Mid-Atlantic states that is similar to California’s cap-and-trade program.

    Sherrill won the governor’s race with more than 56% of the vote.

    Energy prices are spiking in the U.S., in part, because the Trump administration has been cutting funding for wind, solar and battery energy storage, according to Nick Abraham, senior state communications director with the nonprofit League of Conservation Voters. The administration also has moved to block some projects that were almost completed.

    “These races were about energy costs and affordability, and there were two clear cases made by candidates on both sides,” Abraham said. “One side wanted to stick with the Trump agenda — trying to ban clean energy and focusing on fossil fuels — and one side was trying to lower costs and implement clean energy strategies. And the results speak for themselves.”

    According to Lazard, the cost of utility-scale solar ranges from $38 to $78 per megawatt hour and offshore wind from $37 to $86 per megawatt hour.

    That’s compared with $71 to $173 per megawatt hour for coal and $149 to $251 per megawatt hour for gas peaking plants, among fossil fuels.

    The issue was also top-of-mind with voters in Virginia, who took to the polls in a governor’s race between Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. The state is now home to more than a third of all data centers worldwide.

    Spanberger focused heavily on affordability in housing, healthcare and energy during her campaign and said she would expand and incentivize the development of solar energy projects, along with technologies such as fusion, geothermal and hydrogen.

    “Specific to energy, we have to have more generation here on the ground in Virginia,” Spanberger said in an interview with CBS in Richmond, adding that the state is already leading the way with the largest offshore wind farm in the country. The 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is slated to produce enough clean energy to power up to 660,000 homes when completed in 2026.

    Earle-Sears focused on an “all of the above” approach to energy generation including oil, natural gas and renewables, but also worked to remove the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which she described as an “energy tax” driving higher costs. She also promised to repeal the Virginia Clean Economy Act, a 2020 law that requires the state’s utilities to produce 100% renewable electricity by 2050.

    Spanberger won the governor’s race with more than 57% of the vote.

    Meanwhile, voters in Georgia also turned out in a race for two seats on their five-member Public Service Commission, which oversees the state’s utilities. The commission approved six utility bill rate hikes over the last two years.

    Democratic challengers Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson won out over Republicans in Tuesday’s race with the largest statewide margins of victory by Democrats in more than 20 years, according to the Associated Press.

    Both candidates made rising costs key in their campaigns, with Hubbard vowing to “bring clean, reliable and affordable energy to Georgia” and Johnson pushing for “bold investments in solar and wind.”

    Their opponents, Republicans Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, backed a rate freeze but also resorted to Trump-style attacks, with Echols stating at a campaign event that Johnson, a Black woman, wanted to “bring DEI and wokeness” to the Public Service Commission.

    Policy experts said the races were not only a bellwether for the 2026 midterms, but a strong signal that Americans support the clean energy transition.

    “Voters chose leaders who see clean energy as the path to long-term affordability and reliability,” said Frederick Bell, associate director for state climate policy at the Center for American Progress, a think tank.

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    Hayley Smith

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  • Warning signs for the GOP, lessons for Democrats: How Tuesday’s results will shape the 2026 midterms

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    (CNN) — Democrats’ dominance in Tuesday’s elections reset expectations ahead of next year’s midterm battle for House and Senate control, reinvigorating a party that has been in the political wilderness and leaving Republicans lamenting that the gains President Donald Trump made a year ago with key portions of the electorate all but evaporated.

    “Last night, if that wasn’t a message to all Republicans, then we’ve got our head jammed in the ground,” said West Virginia GOP Sen. Jim Justice.

    The list of Democratic winners spanned the party’s ideological spectrum — from Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist elected mayor of New York City, to Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, the moderates with strong national security credentials elected governors of Virginia and New Jersey, respectively.

    Their wins could rally Democrats in competitive House, Senate and governor’s races next year around a message all three made central to their campaigns, in different forms: pledges to reduce the cost of living.

    But the playing field won’t be easy for Democrats. Strategists in both parties agree that control of the House will be in play, but the net effect of redistricting moves around the country — particularly if the Supreme Court decides to weaken the Voting Rights Act — could leave fewer competitive seats for Democrats. And the 2026 Senate map includes only a handful of GOP-held seats that appear to be in play and multiple seats Democrats will have to defend.

    Still, Tuesday’s results may embolden Democrats to continue their strategy in the ongoing government shutdown, while igniting new debates over what kinds of candidates can win, and where.

    Margie Omero, a Democratic pollster, said the elections should be viewed within the broader context of a year in which the party’s voters have packed town halls and rallies, won key races like the Wisconsin Supreme Court contest in the spring and a slew of special elections, and scored candidate recruitment victories for next year’s midterms.

    “Take the whole year into account and it tells a pretty similar story, which is that Democrats are motivated and Republicans are less motivated,” Omero said.

    Trump, she said, “lost popularity and he’s lost altitude on all of his top issues, like the economy and immigration.”

    “Where does that leave his supporters in a midterm or off-year election?” Omero said. “What are they coming out for, if he’s less popular and his policies are less popular and his agenda’s less popular?”

    Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Arlington, Virginia, on November 4. Credit: Alex Wong / Getty Images via CNN Newsource

    In addition to the wins in governor’s races and mayoral elections, and a critical victory in a statewide vote to green-light a redistricting effort to add five more seats that favor Democrats in California, the party also scored a long list of lower-profile victories on Tuesday.

    They broke the GOP’s supermajority in the Mississippi state Senate. They flipped two seats on Georgia’s Public Service Commission. They defeated a voter identification ballot initiative in Maine. Their incumbent Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices prevailed in retention votes.

    The results showed that many of the gains Trump had made in 2024 have evaporated. In New Jersey, Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli couldn’t match Trump’s support levels with Latino and Black voters. In Virginia, Spanberger notched the most impressive Democratic performance in recent years — besting the margins of the party’s last two presidential nominees and carrying a scandal-plagued nominee for attorney general, Jay Jones, to victory on her coattails.

    For the GOP, the fallout could come in a number of forms — including altering the party’s push for redistricting to add winnable congressional seats in deep-red states, and changing how Republicans in competitive midterm races approach Trump.

    “The picture is pretty clear,” said Republican pollster Whit Ayres. “It is not a muddled message.”

    Ayres pointed to several lessons Republicans should take from Tuesday’s results. In Virginia and New Jersey, two states Trump lost in all three of his presidential runs, Republican gubernatorial candidates tied themselves to the president, a “losing strategy from the start,” he said.

    Republicans might also be inclined to rethink their strategy on redistricting, he said.

    “Given the Democratic margins yesterday, about the last thing you want to do if you want to hold on to the House is weaken Republican incumbent House members, and that’s exactly what will happen if you’re trying to carve out more Republican districts,” he said.

    Trump world deflects blame

    For his part, Trump and his top allies publicly downplayed the election results, with the president noting on social media that he wasn’t on the ballot. He partially blamed the ongoing federal government shutdown, telling Republican lawmakers in a closed-door session Wednesday morning that they are getting “killed” politically by the impasse, a source told CNN.

    Vice President JD Vance said that “it’s idiotic to overreact to a couple of elections in blue states.” But he also warned that the GOP needs “to do better at turning out voters than we have in the past.”

    “I said it in 2022, and I’ve said it repeatedly since: our coalition is ‘lower propensity’ and that means we have to do better at turning out voters than we have in the past,” Vance said Wednesday morning on X.

    Vance also urged Republicans to focus on affordability. He said the Trump administration “inherited a disaster from Joe Biden and Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

    Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz called the election results a “great lesson for the Republican Party,” blaming the losing Virginia gubernatorial nominee, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, for failing to excite Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

    “Your candidate needs to be able to turn out ALL FACTIONS of our party, and they do that by being MAGA all the way,” he wrote on X.

    Though Tuesday’s GOP losses were wide-ranging, Republicans focused on elevating one Democratic winner: Mamdani, the 34-year-old Muslim and democratic socialist mayor-elect of New York City.

    House Majority Leader Steve Scalise called Mamdani “the new leader of the Democrat Party.”

    House Speaker Mike Johnson said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is “apparently a socialist now,” since Jeffries endorsed Mamdani.

    Democratic ideological rifts remain

    Mamdani’s victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York City emboldened the left wing of the Democratic Party. Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for Justice Democrats, a group created to oust “corporate Democrats” and elect progressives, said Mamdani’s win marks a “turning point” for their movement and shows the importance of competitive races.

    One long-simmering debate Tuesday’s results didn’t settle is the ideological battle within the Democratic Party over the way forward, with a host of competitive House and Senate primaries just months away and the 2028 presidential primary already looming large.

    “Democratic primaries can and should be the battleground for the control of our party’s direction,” Andrabi said.

    A supporter for independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo watches election night returns during a watch party for Cuomo in New York on Tuesday. Credit: Heather Khalifa / AP via CNN Newsource

    However, in New Jersey and Virginia, the winning Democratic candidates are moderates with strong national security credentials. Spanberger, the Virginia governor-elect, criticized Mamdani in an interview with CNN just days before the election, suggesting his proposals aimed at reducing the cost of living will ultimately disappoint his supporters.

    “We don’t need to settle,” said Omero, the Democratic pollster. “We’re able to have more moderate candidates in some places and more progressive candidates in some places. That feels like an important lesson.”

    One area where Democrats appeared broadly on the same page Wednesday is the ongoing government shutdown — fueled in part by Democrats’ demand that Republicans make concessions on health care funding in order to pass a measure that would fund the government.

    Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy wrote on X that it is “not a coincidence these big wins came at the exact moment when Democrats are using our power to stand for something and be strong. A huge risk to not learn that lesson.”

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    Eric Bradner, Arit John and CNN

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  • Democrats Are Hopeful Again. but Unresolved Questions Remain About Party’s Path Forward

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — For a day, at least, beleaguered Democrats are hopeful again. But just beneath the party’s relief at securing its first big electoral wins since last November’s drubbing lay unresolved questions about its direction heading into next year’s midterm elections.

    The Election Day romp of Republicans stretched from deep-blue New York and California to swing states Georgia, Pennsylvania and Virginia. There were signs that key voting groups, including young people, Black voters and Hispanics who shifted toward President Donald Trump’s Republican Party just a year ago, may be shifting back. And Democratic leaders across the political spectrum coalesced behind a simple message focused on Trump’s failure to address rising costs and everyday kitchen table issues.

    The dominant performance sparked a new round of debate among the party’s establishment-minded pragmatists and fiery progressives over which approach led to Tuesday’s victories, and which path to take into the high-stakes 2026 midterm elections and beyond. The lessons Democrats learn from the victories will help determine the party’s leading message and messengers next year — when elections will decide the balance of power in Congress for the second half of Trump’s term — and potentially in the 2028 presidential race, which has already entered its earliest stages.

    “Of course, there’s a division within the Democratic Party. There’s no secret,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told reporters at a Capitol Hill press conference about the election results.

    Sanders and his chief political strategist pointed to the success of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, as a model for Democrats across the country. But Rep. Suzan Del Bene, who leads the House Democrats’ midterm campaign strategy, avoided saying Mamdani’s name when asked about his success.

    Del Bene instead cheered the moderate approach adopted by Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill in successful races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey as a more viable track for candidates outside of a Democratic stronghold like New York City.

    “New York is bright blue … and the path to the majority in the House is going to be through purple districts,” she told The Associated Press. “The people of Arizona, Iowa and Nebraska aren’t focused on the mayor of New York.”

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a likely Democratic presidential prospect who campaigned alongside Democrats in several states leading up to Tuesday’s elections, noted the candidates hit on a common issue that resonated with voters, regardless of location.

    “All of these candidates who won in these different states were focused on peoples’ everyday needs,” Shapiro said. “And you saw voters in every one of those states and cities showing up to send a clear message to Donald Trump that they’re rejecting his chaos.”

    Amid Democrats’ celebratory phone calls and news conferences, members of the party’s different wings had some sharp critiques for each other.

    While Shapiro cheered the party’s success during a Wednesday interview, he also acknowledged concerns about Mamdani in New York.

    Shapiro, one of the nation’s most prominent Jewish elected leaders, said he’s not comfortable with some of Mamdani’s comments on Israel. The New York mayor-elect, a Muslim, has described Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks as “genocide” against the Palestinian people and has been slow to condemn rhetoric linked to anti-Semitism.

    “I’ve expressed that to him personally. We’ve had good private communications,” Shapiro said of his concerns. “And I hope, as he did last night in his victory speech, that he’ll be a mayor that protects all New Yorkers and tries to bring people together.”

    Meanwhile, Sanders’ political strategist, Faiz Shakir, warned Democrats against embracing “cookie cutter campaigns that say nothing and do nothing” — a reference to centrist Democrats Spanberger and Sherrill.

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat who defeated democratic socialist Omar Fateh to win a third term, said at a news conference Wednesday that “we have to love our city more than our ideology.”

    “We need to be doing everything possible to push back on authoritarianism and what Donald Trump is doing,” Frey said. “And at the same time, the opposite of Donald Trump extremism is not the opposite extreme.”

    Despite potential cracks in the Democratic coalition, it’s hard to understate the extent of the party’s electoral success.

    In Georgia, two Democrats cruised to wins over Republican incumbents in elections to the state Public Service Commission, delivering the largest statewide margins of victory by Democrats in more than 20 years.

    In Pennsylvania, Democrats swept not only three state Supreme Court races, but every county seat in presidential swing counties like Bucks and Erie Counties, including sheriffs. Bucks County elected its first Democratic district attorney as Democrats there also won key school board races and county judgeships.

    Maine voters defeated a Republican-backed measure that would have mandated showing an ID at the polls. Colorado approved raising taxes on people earning more than $300,000 annually to fund school meal programs and food assistance for low-income state residents. And California voters overwhelmingly backed a charge led by Gov. Gavin Newsom to redraw its congressional map to give Democrats as many as five more House seats in upcoming elections.


    Key groups coming back to Democrats

    Trump made inroads with Black and Hispanic voters in 2024. But this week, Democrats scored strong performances with non-white voters in New Jersey and Virginia that offered promise.

    About 7 in 10 voters in New Jersey were white, according to the AP Voter Poll. And Sherrill won about half that group. But she made up for her relative weakness with whites with a strong showing among Black, Hispanic and Asian voters.

    The vast majority — about 9 in 10 — of Black voters supported Sherrill, as did about 8 in 10 Asian voters.

    Hispanic voters in New Jersey were more divided, but about two-thirds supported Sherrill; only about 3 in 10 voted for the Republican nominee, Jack Ciattarelli.

    The pattern was similar in Virginia, where Spanberger performed well among Black voters, Hispanic voters and Asian voters, even though she didn’t win a majority of white voters.


    Democrats will soon face a choice

    The debate over the party’s future is already starting to play out in key midterm elections where Democrats have just begun intra-party primary contests.

    The choice is stark in Maine’s high-stakes Senate race, where Democrats will pick from a field that features establishment favorite, Gov. Jan Mills, and Sanders-endorsed populist Graham Platner. A similar dynamic could play out in key contests across Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Michigan.

    Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is aligned with the progressive wing of the party, said the people he speaks to are demanding bold action to address their economic concerns.

    “Folks are so frustrated by how hard its become to afford a dignified life here in Michigan and across the country,” he said.

    “I’m sure the corporate donors don’t want us to push too hard,” El-Sayed continued. “My worry is the very same people who told us we were just fine in 2024 will miss the mandate.”

    Associated Press reporter Mike Catalini in Newark and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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    Associated Press

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  • 5 Takeaways for Business Owners from Tuesday’s Blue Wave Election Results

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    Election Day 2025 was a sweeping victory for Democrats, with major wins in two gubernatorial races and the New York City mayoral contest, along with California voters approving a ballot measure to redraw congressional districts, which could give Democrats an advantage in the House of Representatives starting in 2026. It could also be a learning experience for business owners.

    While political experts will be sifting through the results for days, trying to discern what this means for next year’s midterm elections and the overall state of the Democratic and Republican parties, there are also lessons to be found for entrepreneurs.

    Affordability is everything

    The economy was the driving force of the 2025 election. Exit polls found that in the New York City mayor race, both the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races and the Proposition 50 battle in California, voters cited the economy as the most important issue. That likely doesn’t come as a shock to business owners. Plenty of holiday sales predictions have underlined it as well. (Deloitte, for example, forecasts U.S. consumers will spend 10% less than they did in 2024.) There’s a fine line between maintaining your company’s profitability and offering your customers a deal, but the electorate’s laser focus on their own financial situation underscores just how critical it is to thread that needle.

    It’s time to learn more about Democratic Socialism

    Despite opposition from big business and billionaires, Zohran Mamdani easily won the mayoral race in New York City, getting the most votes of any candidate since the 1960s. Mamdani is a democratic socialist, who made campaign promises that included free child care, free buses, and a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments.

    Bernie Sanders has been the face of democratic socialism until now, helping raise awareness of the party, but democratic socialists are still a small fraction of the overall voter population. As Tuesday showed, though, interest is growing fast. Voters are growing disenfranchised with their parties and looking for alternatives. Mamdani has emphasized more regulatory breaks for small businesses and fewer breaks for corporations, which could help him win over an even larger base. 

    Small businesses that can figure out how to communicate with and interact with that audience could find a loyal customer base. As Mamdani demonstrated, the political movement isn’t afraid to do battle with corporate entities.

    There’s power in the youth market

    Mamdani’s victory was fueled by the youth vote. Two-thirds of people under the age of 45 supported his campaign, according to exit polls. Young voters were also driven to the polls in California to vote on Prop 50. It was, in many ways, the first election where Generation Z had a major influence on results.

    Smart business owners have had Gen Z on their radar for a while. The group makes up nearly one-fifth of the workforce and is expected to have a spending power of $12 trillion by 2030. The 2025 election underlines that they’re a market that needs to be taken seriously.

    While traditional polls didn’t blow it quite as bad as they did in the 2024 elections, several made some of the high-level races seem a lot closer than they turned out to be when voting ended. Prediction markets, however, didn’t miss. That will almost certainly boost their reputation as political predictors, but business owners who study them could also get advance looks at evolving trends and coming waves. That could give them time to adapt and be ready to ride new waves in everything from tech to culture to the economy over the months and years to come.

    Sometimes you have to throw out the playbook

    Even with Tuesday’s victories, the Democratic party is still in the midst of an identity crisis. Mamdani’s victory could signal a change in how voters want to approach things. And California governor Gavin Newsom’s win on Prop 50 came after weeks of social media posts meant to mock Trump’s style. Whether these approaches will work on a more national level remains to be seen, but both were different than what voters were used to seeing. Both politicians saw that the status quo wasn’t working and gambled on something new, a lesson that business owners can learn from.

    Just because you create a new playbook, it doesn’t mean you have to completely do away with what has worked before, however. New Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey governor-elect Mikie Sherrill took a more centrist approach in their campaigns and still scored victories.

    The early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Chris Morris

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  • Jayden Daniels leaves game after Washington QB’s nonthrowing arm bends gruesomely

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Jayden Daniels was being dragged down by a defender when he stuck his left arm out and put his hand on the ground.

    That’s when a dismal night for the Washington Commanders turned downright horrifying.

    Daniels’ nonthrowing arm bent gruesomely, and the star quarterback had to leave Washington’s 38-14 loss to Seattle on Sunday night with 7:29 remaining in the fourth quarter. It’s the third — and perhaps the most significant — injury of the season for Daniels, who was in his first game back from a hamstring issue.

    “It’s really tough to see him go down. You just want him to stay positive,” Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “You don’t know what the result is. You just speak a lot of positivity into existence. He’s a very positive person so we’re just praying for the best.”

    AP AUDIO: Jayden Daniels leaves game after Washington QB’s nonthrowing arm bends gruesomely

    The NFL’s reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year exited with a significant injury late during a lopsided defeat. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.

    Commanders coach Dan Quinn said Daniels injured his elbow. That was about the extent of the postgame update. Quinn didn’t have much of an explanation for why Daniels was still in the game. Washington was trailing 38-7 at the time.

    “Obviously like the hindsight, you don’t want to think that way, where an injury could take place,” Quinn said. “Obviously we’re more conservative in that spot to run and hand off and not have reads to go, but just the end result — obviously, I’m bummed.”

    In addition to the hamstring injury, Daniels also missed two games earlier this season with knee issues.

    Although an injury to Daniels’ non-throwing arm isn’t necessarily career altering, Commanders fans could hardly be blamed for immediately fearing the worst. It was on this same field about 13 years ago — against the same opponent — that Robert Griffin III went down with a severe knee injury at the end of his sensational rookie season for Washington. He never reached those heights again.

    The Commanders fell behind early Sunday and trailed 31-7 at halftime, and Daniels had to do plenty of scrambling. He ended up running for 51 yards on 10 carries, and the injury underscored the risk in doing that.

    “I think that’s his nature. He wants to be aggressive and make plays,” Quinn said. “He’s got confidence in the other players. I do know that. So it’s not like, ‘I have to do more, I have to do things that are outside of playing in that way.’ We also have to have everybody. Injuries happen and you hate it.”

    As a rookie last season, Daniels led Washington to the NFC championship game — its best season since 1991. Now the Commanders are 3-6 after four straight losses. If the season can be salvaged, it may have to be with Marcus Mariota at quarterback.

    During those moments when Daniels was slow to get up, however, it was the long-term future that seemed like the bigger issue.

    “I didn’t see what happened exactly. I just heard a pause and I kind of put my head down and prayed for him,” Commanders guard Sam Cosmi said. “You just don’t want to see that happen.”

    ___

    AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

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  • Democrats Dominate First Big Votes of Trump’s Second Term, but Uncertainties Remain

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats took a victory lap on Wednesday after sweeping the first major elections since Donald Trump returned to the White House, a much-needed balm for a wounded party that had spent much of the last year desperately trying to find its footing.

    A new generation of Democrats, including the 34-year-old New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, won closely watched contests in New Jersey, New York and Virginia, while California voters resoundingly approved a new congressional map aimed at improving Democratic odds of winning the U.S. House next year.

    Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, boasted that Republicans got “wiped out” in a post on X on Wednesday.

    The impressive performance – including lower-profile victories in swing states Pennsylvania and Georgia – gave a boost of momentum to Democrats, who remain locked out of power in Washington after losing the presidency, the House and the Senate a year ago to Trump’s Republicans. But most of the biggest contests took place in Democratic-leaning states, and there are still plenty of pitfalls for the party to confront before the 2026 midterm elections next November.

    The Democratic brand remains broadly unpopular, according to opinion polls. While Trump’s approval rating has fallen, voters are still split between the parties; a Reuters/Ipsos poll in late October found respondents were equally likely to say they would vote for a Republican or a Democrat for the House if the election were held that day.

    Intraparty tensions may also persist. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, energized young voters as an anti-establishment insurgent, while Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, the two women who won the Virginia and New Jersey governor races, are both moderate Democrats with national security backgrounds.

    However, all three candidates focused intensely on economic issues, particularly the cost of living, an issue that helped propel Trump to the White House last year but has remained top-of-mind for voters.

    “I think the lesson for the president is that it’s not enough to diagnose the crisis in working-class Americans’ lives,” Mamdani said at his first press conference as mayor-elect on Wednesday. “You have to deliver.”

    Trump, a brawler by nature, wrote on social media just after midnight in all capital letters, “…and so it begins!” On Wednesday morning, the White House posted a campaign-style video celebrating the one-year anniversary since Trump regained the presidency, writing, “The golden age of America is here to stay.”

    Democrats have argued that the party can succeed with candidates of all ideological stripes, as long as they focus on the problems that matter most to everyday Americans.

    “There’s many different ways of being a Democrat,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin told Reuters ahead of the election. “No one should confuse unity with unanimity.”

    Mamdani, the first Muslim to be elected mayor of the biggest U.S. city, defeated former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, 67, who ran as an independent after losing the nomination to Mamdani earlier this year. Cuomo, who resigned as governor four years ago after sexual harassment allegations that he has denied, painted Mamdani as a radical leftist whose proposals were unworkable and dangerous.

    Mamdani has proposed raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for ambitious policies such as frozen rents, free childcare and free city buses.

    Republicans have already begun portraying Mamdani as the new face of the Democratic Party.

    “His election is proof that the Democrat Party has abandoned common sense and tied themselves to extremism,” Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement.

    While Sherrill’s and Spanberger’s victories were perhaps unsurprising in Democratic-leaning states, the double-digit margins of their wins far exceeded Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ performance last year.

    Both candidates had sought to tie their opponents to Trump in an effort to harness frustration among Democratic and independent voters over his chaotic tenure.

    More than one-third of voters in those states said opposing Trump was a factor in their vote, according to exit polls conducted for a consortium of U.S. networks and the Associated Press. Those voters overwhelmingly cast ballots for the Democrats.

    For Republicans, Tuesday’s elections were an early warning sign that the party may struggle to mobilize Trump’s coalition when he is not on the ballot. Vice President JD Vance acknowledged that problem in a social media post on Wednesday, saying Republicans must do a better job of turning out the less reliable voters that backed Trump in 2024.

    (Reporting by Joseph Ax in Washington; additional reporting by Susan Heavey, James Oliphant and Bhargav Acharya; editing by Paul Thomasch and Howard Goller)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • A Next-Generation Victory for Democrats

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    None of the three Democrats who won convincingly on Tuesday was in politics when Donald Trump was first elected President. In 2016, Abigail Spanberger, the governor-elect of Virginia, had recently left the C.I.A. and was working for an educational consultancy. Mikie Sherrill, who just won the race to be New Jersey’s next governor, was a helicopter pilot turned federal prosecutor. Zohran Mamdani, the thirty-four-year-old state assemblyman who will soon be New York City’s mayor, was rapping as Young Cardamom and volunteering for left-wing City Council candidates. For much of the past decade, the Democratic Party has seemed stuck in a pre-Trump past; Tuesday seemed like the turning of a generational page. At his victory party on Tuesday night, Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and the most ideological of the trio, was the most explicit about the shift: “We are breathing in the air of a city that has been reborn.”

    The 2025 elections were always going to be about the Democrats, not just because this year’s major races were set in blue places but because the Party has been adrift since last year’s Presidential election. Lately, the most reliable rhythm in political news has been commentators explaining what the Democrats “should” and “must” do. (“The Democrats must add to their collective vocabulary two words . . . equality and oligarchy,” Fintan O’Toole wrote, in The New York Review of Books, urging a more populist turn. More ecumenically, Ezra Klein wrote, in the Times, “The Democratic Party does not need to choose to be one thing. It needs to choose to be more things.”) For some more centrist Democrats, what the Party needed was to avoid being tagged with Mamdani’s more expansive left-wing views. Asked on CNN whether Mamdani was the future of the Party, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pointedly said no. (“Good to know,” Mamdani said, when told about Jeffries’s comment.) Senator Chuck Schumer refused to say who he voted for. “People do want us to be aspirational and dream big,” Spanberger said of Mamdani, a few days before the election. “They also don’t want us to lie to them.”

    But despite all the prickly talk and the very careful factional positioning—left versus center—the Democrats who won Tuesday all shared the same theme: that the most important things cost too much. Asked to define his closing message, Mamdani said it was “the same message that we opened with, which is that this is the most expensive city in the United States of America, and it’s time to make it affordable.” NBC News, following Spanberger during the last days of her campaign, found her “laser-focussed” on an economic message, because, as she put it, “We see the hardships of this moment.” In Sherrill’s final ad, she said, “I’ll serve you as governor to drive your costs down.” Mamdani’s support of a rent freeze was seen as a socialist-style proposal, but Sherrill had herself campaigned on declaring a state of emergency on her first day in office, in order to freeze utility costs for New Jersey families, including suburban homeowners. These ideas came from opposite factions in the Party, but, when you listened to them, they sounded very much the same.

    Set aside the endless and sometimes annoyingly abstract debate over whether the Democrats should move to the left or to the center, and a pair of insights emerge from Tuesday’s results, both of which might give some hope to a Party that has lately been starved for it. First, the prospect that the 2024 election marked an electoral “realignment,” in which young and nonwhite voters without college degrees moved inexorably toward the Republicans, now seems increasingly unlikely. The margins in Virginia, where Spanberger won by about fifteen percentage points, and New Jersey, where Sherrill won by twelve, suggested that these weaknesses had been largely circumstantial, with some racially diverse areas that had been drifting away from the Democrats, such as Hudson County, in New Jersey, swinging back toward them on Thursday. In the Washington Post/ABC News poll taken shortly before the election, sixty-six per cent of young voters disapproved of the job that President Trump is doing, as did more than seventy per cent of racial minorities. (“That’s not screaming realignment,” the analyst Ronald Brownstein noted.) Exit polls published by NBC had Spanberger and Sherrill winning men under twenty-nine—the demographic most thought to be fleeing to the right—by ten points. Mamdani won them by forty. This time, it was the New York socialist who brought new voters into the political process.

    Maybe more significant, as Mamdani, Sherrill, and Spanberger all seemed to recognize, Trump has handed them not just an issue but a theme that the Party might carry through to the midterms. Having won the Presidency in part because of concerns about the escalating cost of living, Trump has governed in ways that have deepened the problem. His so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act amounted to a vast transfer of money from the poor to the rich. He has been personally fixated on an escalation of tariffs that has made ordinary goods much more expensive. During the ongoing government shutdown, he has at one point refused a court order requiring his Administration to disburse funds to pay food-stamp recipients, as lines at food pantries grow. Millions of people now stand to lose health insurance because of the President’s hard-line position in budget negotiations. The most natural campaign for Democrats to run—one that the Party was built to run in the twentieth century—is ordinary people against the rich. Trump is handing it back to them. Cue the ads: the billionaire pardoned after investing in the Trump family’s crypto projects; the twenty billion dollars sent away to bolster the Argentinean President, a political ally of the White House, at the expense of American farmers; the bulldozers razing the East Wing in a project underwritten by Trump’s donors.

    How much more optimistic should Democrats allow themselves to be? Trump is still the President, and the pressures of his policies and his authoritarian tendencies are still mounting. Tuesday’s elections took place mostly in safely Democratic cities and states, among an off-year electorate that has recently tended to be bluer than in Presidential years, and the Party is still full of contradictory instincts and mutual antipathy. Even so, the winning campaigns suggested the themes that might help renew the Party, and their margins of victory offered hope for a strong midterm. Tuesday night on CNN had begun with Dick Cheney’s death and ended with a live stream hosted by Ben Shapiro and Charlamagne tha God. The old system was under pressure everywhere. “I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older,” Mamdani told his Election Night party. For the first time in a while, he might have said the same of his party, too. ♦

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  • Here’s what CBS News exit polls told us about the 2025 elections

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    The Trump factor

    He may not have been on the ballot, but President Trump was on the minds of voters in the 2025 elections. 

    He was a factor for many voters in each of the places where exit polls were conducted: Virginia, New Jersey, New York City and California. And more said their vote in these races was to oppose him, than support him.

    These are historically Democrat-leaning places, and more voters here disapproved than approved of his overall job as president. They also found that his administration’s actions on immigration enforcement have gone too far. 

    New York City: Cost of living and bringing needed change

    New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won a decisive victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on a campaign of affordability, and the cost of living was the most important issue to voters in New York City. Mamdani handily won the majority of voters who picked it. More specifically, he focused on the cost of housing, which seven in 10 voters in New York said was a major problem where they live, and he won among renters, who made up more than half of the electorate.

    Voters who made up their minds in the last month of the campaign voted overwhelmingly for Cuomo, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the majority of voters who decided on Mamdani before October.

    Cuomo led Mamdani among Jewish voters — most of whom said a candidate’s position on Israel was important in their vote. 

    Mamdani’s coalition was led by enormous support among voters under 30 and very liberal voters, but his support extended to all voters under 45 and to those who considered themselves only somewhat liberal, while older voters, as well as moderates and conservatives, voted for Cuomo.

    image5.png

    The Republican candidate in the New York City mayoral race, Curtis Sliwa, came in a distant third and didn’t even win self-identified Republicans (they voted for Cuomo). Had he dropped out of the race, it might not have made a difference. Though most of Sliwa’s supporters said they would have voted for Cuomo, exit polls indicate that in a hypothetical two-way race, Mamdani still would have been victorious.

    Mamdani also ran on change, and that was picked as the most important quality in how voters made their decision. A changing electorate was also a hallmark of Mamdani’s win — his strongest support was not just young voters, but also those who were voting in a mayoral race for the first time and those who had moved to New York within the past 10 years.

    New Jersey and Virginia: The economy, women voters

    Economic issues also loomed large in the Democratic wins in the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia. In New Jersey, Jack Ciattarelli won voters who were most concerned about taxes and who said electricity was a major problem for them, but voters who said the most important issue was the economy overall voted for Sherrill. In Virginia, those “economy” voters voted for Abigail Spanberger over Winsome Earle-Sears by more than 20 points.

    Women voted in big numbers for the women Democratic candidates in Virginia and New Jersey. Sherrill and Spanberger’s margins with women were far larger than Kamala Harris’ were nationally in 2024.

    Independents were key, too. They swung toward Spanberger in Virginia, after Glenn Youngkin won them in 2021. Independents also backed Sherrill in New Jersey. 

    image1.png

    image3.png

    California Prop 50: Getting back at Republicans’ plans

    The proposition, pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, authorizes temporary changes to the state’s congressional district maps in response to redistricting in Texas. 

    “Yes” voters didn’t necessarily think this ballot initiative was the best way to draw congressional district line — but they overwhelmingly said it was to counter the changes made by Republicans in other states. 

    image2.png

    Polls may have updated since this post was published.

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  • Winsome Earle-Sears concedes Virginia governor race, says she’s ‘not going anywhere’

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    LEESBURG, Va. – Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears told the crowd at her election watch party in Loudoun County that she is “not going anywhere” after a defeat to Abigail Spanberger, and adding that she hopes the governor-elect governs as the moderate she repeatedly pledged to be on the campaign trail.

    “I think I learn more in a loss than I ever do in a victory,” Earle-Sears said.

    “I don’t think we came up short — I think we tried very, very hard — so many had counted me out for so long, and it’s an amazing thing to watch. And we just kept plugging and plugging.”

    Earle-Sears said she called Spanberger, but that Spanberger did not pick up. She said she wished her well and that she remains open to volunteering to help the Spanberger administration achieve any goals that would make Virginia successful.

    EARLE-SEARS COMES OUT SWINGING IN HEATED DEBATE AS SPANBERGER DODGES JAY JONES QUESTIONS

    Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears greets supporters on Election Night in Leesburg, Va. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    “I asked her to please consider all Virginians – that she will represent all of us and not just some of us,” she said.

    “I hope that Abigail considers school choice, opportunities for our children to excel – it can’t just be one path. How dare you stand in the doorway of a parent who says I want something different for my child,” she said.

    Earle-Sears added that she ran a race based on “foundational ideas” like repealing car taxes, protecting children and their education, and expanding the economy.

    WINSOME EARLE-SEARS RELEASES ‘TWO BULLETS’ AD SCATHING OPPONENT FOR FAILING TO DEMAND JAY JONES’ OUSTER

    “I don’t consider this a loss because … I’m a Christian first and Republican second and that’s the way it always should be — no political party has ever given their life for me,” she said.

    “I’m not going anywhere — and neither are you,” she said, adding that Virginia is not a radical-left state and that she intends to keep it that way.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    “We must pray for Abigail, we must pray for our government.”

    “I’m really not even supposed to be here to think about it. I mean, I am an immigrant from another country, and yet you all have given me the opportunity to do this,” she said.

    In comments to Fox News Digital, Earle-Sears spokeswoman Peyton Vogel said she is “incredibly proud” of the campaign the outgoing lieutenant governor ran, and that Virginia, nonetheless, made history in electing its first female governor.

    Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. 

    He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant. 

    Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

    Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

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  • PHOTOS: Election Day in Virginia 2025 – WTOP News

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    8/24

    Democrat Abigail Spanberger, right, shares a moment with her mother after she was declared the winner of the Virginia governor’s race during an election night watch party Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Richmond, Va.
    (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

    A crowd at Spanberger’s campaign headquarters in Richmond on election night.


    Winsome Earle-Sears
    11/24

    LEESBURG, VIRGINIA – NOVEMBER 04: Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, joined by her husband Terence, delivers her concession speech during her election night watch party at The National Conference Center on November 04, 2025 in Leesburg, Virginia. Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger defeated Earle-Sears to become the first female governor in the commonwealth’s history in an election that was seen as a national political bellwether leading into the midterms.
    (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)


    Young girls holds up to-do list that starts with 'vote'
    13/24

    A young girl holds up her to-do list, beginning with “vote”, outside Alexandria City Hall, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Alexandria, Va.
    (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

    A voter completes her ballot at Alexandria City Hall, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)


    Election 2025 Virginia Attorney General
    19/24

    Democrat Jay Jones, left, and Republican incumbent Jason Miyares shake hands at the start of the Virginia attorney general debate in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.
    (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP, Pool)

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Jeffery Leon

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  • Maps show election results for NYC mayor and New Jersey, Virginia governor’s races

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    Results are still coming in as votes are counted in closely watched elections in New York City, New Jersey and Virginia. 

    New York City mayor’s race

    Democrat Zohran Mamdani will win the three-way race for New York City mayor, CBS News projects — defeating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who’s running as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

    Mamdani, 34, is a democratic socialist who promised rent freezes and free buses during his campaign. Cuomo was backed by several establishment Democrats — and even by President Trump. The closely watched race is all but certain to fuel debate over Democrats’ future going into the midterms, a year after losing the presidency, the House and the Senate in 2024. 

    NYC mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani (L), Andrew Cuomo (C) and Curtis Sliwa (R).

    (L) Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images, (C) TIMOTHY A.CLARY/AFP via Getty Images, (R) Stephanie Keith/Getty Images


    For more on the New York City mayoral race, follow updates here.

    Watch the live results as they’re reported in the map below. 

    New Jersey governor’s race

    In the New Jersey governor’s race, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli, CBS News projects. 

    Photos of Jack Ciattarelli and Mikie Sherrill from a debate

    Candidates in the New Jersey governor’s race: Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill.

    AP Photos


    Gov. Phil Murphy is serving his second term as governor, and Sherrill’s victory means the governorship will be under Democratic control for three straight terms — the first time either party has held the governor’s seat for three terms in a row since 1961.

    Here are the live results as they’re reported, county by county, in New Jersey.

    Virginia governor’s race

    In Virginia, former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to be Virginia’s next governor, CBS News projected. Spanberger is making history as the first woman to serve in the role. 

    Election 2025 Virginia

    Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, left, and Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger, right.

    AP


    Running as a moderate, Spanberger flipped the governorship, which is currently held by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin is prohibited from running for a consecutive term under state law. The race is widely seen as a referendum on President Trump, who did not endorse Earle-Sears.

    Here are the live results as they’re reported, county by county, in Virginia.

    For more on the results of the 2025 elections, follow live updates here. 

    CBS News 24/7 is streaming live election coverage throughout the night. And you can go deeper with analysis and opinion from The Free Press, a Paramount publication.

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  • Election Day 2025: Live updates of key races, storylines and ballot measures around the country

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    Former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who was outraised by the Democrat and failed to earn the endorsement of President Donald Trump.The win flips control of the commonwealth’s governor’s mansion. While local issues and the biographies of the candidates played a strong role in the race, the results also reflect a contest where Trump’s presence loomed.Virginia has a concentration of federal workers in the north and has deeply felt both the impact of the president cutting the workforce and of the government shutdown.Virginia was one of two states, along with New Jersey, where voters were picking a governor on Tuesday. Voters were also selecting a new mayor in New York City, and in California, were deciding whether to approve a new congressional map that is designed to help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections. Here are the latest time-stamped updates from Election Day 2025 (ET): 8:15 p.m.Results for two high-profile mayoral races have come in.According to AP, Democrat Aftab Pureval has won the Cincinnati mayoral election over Cory Bowman, who is the half-brother of Vice President JD Vance.And in Atlanta, Democrat Andre Dickens won reelection over three challengers.8 p.m.Democrat Abigail Spanberger has won Virginia’s gubernatorial election, becoming the first female governor in the commonwealth’s history, according to AP projections.Spanberger, a former congresswoman and CIA case officer, defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.Spanberger ran a mostly moderate campaign, offering a model for Democrats who want the party anchored by center-left candidates.Spanberger tied Earle-Sears to President Donald Trump but kept her arguments mostly on Trump’s economic policy and her support for abortion rights.Notably, Trump did not endorse Earle-Sears.7:30 p.m. Economic worries were the dominant concern as voters cast ballots for Tuesday’s elections, according to preliminary findings from the AP Voter Poll.The results of the expansive survey of more than 17,000 voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City suggest they are troubled by an economy that seems trapped by higher prices and fewer job opportunities.The economic challenges have played out in different ways at the local level. Most New Jersey voters said property taxes were a “major problem,” while most New York City voters said this about the cost of housing. Most Virginia voters said they’ve felt at least some impact from the recent federal government cuts.7 p.m.Polling locations have closed in Virginia.Polls across the commonwealth’s counties and cities were open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters in line at a polling place at 7 p.m. can still cast ballots.Virginia voters are choosing a new governor and lieutenant governor. They’re also deciding whether Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares should get another term or if Democratic challenger Jay Jones should replace him. All 100 seats in the House of Delegates are also up for election.There are well over 6 million registered voters in Virginia. The last time these statewide races were on the ballot in 2021, overall voter turnout was 55%.This year, nearly 1.5 million people have cast absentee ballots, mostly through the mail or in person.Video below: Spanberger makes last push before Tuesday’s election for VA governor6:55 p.m.New York City’s Board of Elections released another turnout update Tuesday evening.As of 6 p.m., 1.7 million people have voted in the mayoral election.That’s the biggest turnout in a New York City mayoral election in at least 30 years. Just under 1.9 million people voted in the 1993 race, when Republican Rudy Giuliani ousted Mayor David Dinkins, a Democrat.6:45 p.m.Here is when polls close in states with key races. New York: 9 p.m.New Jersey: 8 p.m.Virginia: 7 p.m.California: 11 p.m. (8 p.m. PT)6:30 p.m.It’s not a presidential election year or even the midterms, but the stakes for Election Day 2025 remain undeniably high, with outcomes that could leave a lasting impact on the nation’s direction.Will California redefine the congressional landscape ahead of 2026? Could New York City elect a democratic socialist as its next mayor? And how will the perception of the Trump administration impact critical gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia?This week holds the answers to those pressing questions. Here’s what you need to know before the results start rolling in Tuesday night.

    Former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who was outraised by the Democrat and failed to earn the endorsement of President Donald Trump.

    The win flips control of the commonwealth’s governor’s mansion. While local issues and the biographies of the candidates played a strong role in the race, the results also reflect a contest where Trump’s presence loomed.

    Virginia has a concentration of federal workers in the north and has deeply felt both the impact of the president cutting the workforce and of the government shutdown.

    Virginia was one of two states, along with New Jersey, where voters were picking a governor on Tuesday. Voters were also selecting a new mayor in New York City, and in California, were deciding whether to approve a new congressional map that is designed to help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections.

    Here are the latest time-stamped updates from Election Day 2025 (ET):

    8:15 p.m.

    Results for two high-profile mayoral races have come in.

    According to AP, Democrat Aftab Pureval has won the Cincinnati mayoral election over Cory Bowman, who is the half-brother of Vice President JD Vance.

    And in Atlanta, Democrat Andre Dickens won reelection over three challengers.

    8 p.m.

    Democrat Abigail Spanberger has won Virginia’s gubernatorial election, becoming the first female governor in the commonwealth’s history, according to AP projections.

    Spanberger, a former congresswoman and CIA case officer, defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

    Spanberger ran a mostly moderate campaign, offering a model for Democrats who want the party anchored by center-left candidates.

    Spanberger tied Earle-Sears to President Donald Trump but kept her arguments mostly on Trump’s economic policy and her support for abortion rights.

    Notably, Trump did not endorse Earle-Sears.

    7:30 p.m.

    Economic worries were the dominant concern as voters cast ballots for Tuesday’s elections, according to preliminary findings from the AP Voter Poll.

    The results of the expansive survey of more than 17,000 voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City suggest they are troubled by an economy that seems trapped by higher prices and fewer job opportunities.

    The economic challenges have played out in different ways at the local level. Most New Jersey voters said property taxes were a “major problem,” while most New York City voters said this about the cost of housing. Most Virginia voters said they’ve felt at least some impact from the recent federal government cuts.

    7 p.m.

    Polling locations have closed in Virginia.

    Polls across the commonwealth’s counties and cities were open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters in line at a polling place at 7 p.m. can still cast ballots.

    Virginia voters are choosing a new governor and lieutenant governor. They’re also deciding whether Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares should get another term or if Democratic challenger Jay Jones should replace him. All 100 seats in the House of Delegates are also up for election.

    There are well over 6 million registered voters in Virginia. The last time these statewide races were on the ballot in 2021, overall voter turnout was 55%.

    This year, nearly 1.5 million people have cast absentee ballots, mostly through the mail or in person.

    Video below: Spanberger makes last push before Tuesday’s election for VA governor

    6:55 p.m.

    New York City’s Board of Elections released another turnout update Tuesday evening.

    As of 6 p.m., 1.7 million people have voted in the mayoral election.

    That’s the biggest turnout in a New York City mayoral election in at least 30 years. Just under 1.9 million people voted in the 1993 race, when Republican Rudy Giuliani ousted Mayor David Dinkins, a Democrat.

    6:45 p.m.

    Here is when polls close in states with key races.

    New York: 9 p.m.

    New Jersey: 8 p.m.

    Virginia: 7 p.m.

    California: 11 p.m. (8 p.m. PT)

    6:30 p.m.

    It’s not a presidential election year or even the midterms, but the stakes for Election Day 2025 remain undeniably high, with outcomes that could leave a lasting impact on the nation’s direction.

    Will California redefine the congressional landscape ahead of 2026? Could New York City elect a democratic socialist as its next mayor? And how will the perception of the Trump administration impact critical gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia?

    This week holds the answers to those pressing questions. Here’s what you need to know before the results start rolling in Tuesday night.

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  • Election 2025: Local and county election results for Virginia and Maryland – WTOP News

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    From school boards, to mayors and sheriffs, here is a break down of the unofficial results of local races across Virginia and in parts of Maryland.

    Stay with WTOP on air, online and on our news app for team coverage, live results and analyses of election night in Virginia. Listen live.

    From school boards to mayors and sheriffs, here is a break down of the unofficial results of local races across Virginia and in parts of Maryland.

    Leading candidates and referendums will be in bold.

    For live results on Virginia’s general election results for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and House of Delegates races, click here.

    To follow election results for Maryland, click here.

    Arlington County

    School Board (Vote for 1)

          • Maj. Mike Webb
          • James “Vell” Rives IV
          • Monique A. “Moe” Bryant

    County Board (Voters rank up to three candidates in the order of their choice. One candidate will be elected.)

          • Takis P. Karantonis
          • Bob Cambridge
          • Audrey R. Clement
          • Jeramy L. Olmack
          • Carlos “DC” De Castro Pretelt

    Culpeper County

    Mayor, Town of Culpeper (Vote for 1)

          • Jon D. Russell
          • Frank Reaves, Jr.

    Member, Culpeper Town Council (Vote for no more than four)

          • Max B. Sternberg
          • N. Janie Schmidt
          • William M. “Bill” Yowell
          • Brian H. Brumfield-Horner
          • Whitney R. Grespin
          • Brent M. Amos
          • Joseph M. “Joe” Short

    Fairfax County

    Mayor, Town of Clifton (Vote for 1)

    Mayor, Town of Vienna (Vote for 1)

    Member Town Council, Town of Vienna (Vote no more than six)

          • Daniel R. “Dann” Nash
          • Howard J. Springsteen
          • Charles L. “Chuck” Anderson
          • Douglas K. “Doug” Francis
          • Roy J. Baldwin
          • Sandra D. Allen
          • Jessica H. Ramakis

    Referendum

    (Public School Bonds Question): Shall Fairfax County, Virginia, contract a
    debt, borrow money, and issue capital improvement bonds in the maximum aggregate principal amount of $460,000,000 for the purposes of providing funds, in addition to funds from school bonds previously authorized, to finance, including reimbursement to the County for temporary financing for, the costs of school improvements, including acquiring, building, expanding, and renovating properties, including new sites, new buildings or additions, renovations and improvements to existing buildings, and furnishings and equipment, for the Fairfax County public school system?

    Yes

    No

    Fauquier County

    Member Town Council, Remington Special Election

          • Devada R. Allison Jr.
          • Lisa M. Schulz

    City of Alexandria

    Commonwealth’s Attorney (Vote for 1)

    Sheriff (Vote for 1)

    City of Fairfax

    Commissioner of Revenue (Vote for 1)

    Treasurer

          • W. Thomas “Tom” Scibilia

    City of Falls Church

    Sheriff (Vote for 1)

    Commissioner of Revenue (Vote for 1)

    Treasurer (Vote for 1)

    City Council (Vote for no more than four)

          • Laura T. Downs
          • David F. Snyder
          • Marybeth D. Connelly
          • Arthur H. Agin
          • Brian W. Pendleton
          • James C. Thompson, Jr.

    School Board (Vote for no more than four)

          • Lori K. Silverman
          • Sharon M.Z. Mergler
          • Anne H. Sherwood
          • MaryKate H. “MK” Hughes
          • Kathleen E.C. Tysse

    City of Manassas

    Commissioner of Revenue (Vote for 1)

          • Tim Demeria
          • Deon A. Shamberger

    Treasurer (Vote for 1)

          • Patricia E. Richie-Folks
          • Nathaniel “Nate” Fritzen

    Loudoun County

    Dulles District, School Board (Vote for 1)

          • Santos O. Munoz Melendez
          • Jonathon A. Pepper

    Member School Board, Algonkian District (Vote for 1)

          • April Moore Chandler
          • Matt D. Malone

    Member School Board, Leesburg District (Vote for 1)

    Member School Board, Broad Run District (Vote for 1)

          • Chuntao Samuel Yan
          • Ross C. Svenson

    Member School Board, Sterling District (Vote for 1)

          • Amy M. Riccardi
          • Arben Istrefi

    Mayor, Town of Middleburg (Vote for 1)

          • Trowbridge M. “Bridge” Littleton

    Member Town Council, Town of Middleburg (Vote for no more than four)

          • Cindy Craun Pearson
          • C. Darlene Kirk
          • Deborah Scott Gallagher
          • Chris K. Hersh

    Mayor, Town of Round Hill (Vote for 1)

    Member Town Council, Town of Round Hill (Vote for no more than three)

          • Paula G. James
          • T. Sean Lloyd
          • Beth A. Caseman

    Referendums

    (School Projects Question): Shall the County of Loudoun, Virginia contract a debt and issue its general obligation capital improvement bonds in the maximum principal amount of $75,620,000 to finance, in whole or in part, the design, construction, equipping and other costs of the Capital Renewal and Alteration and the Special Program / Academy Expansion; and the costs of other public school facilities as requested by the Loudoun County School Board?

    Yes

    No
    (Transportation Question): Shall the County of Loudoun, Virginia contract a debt and issue its general obligation capital improvement bonds in the maximum principal amount of $30,126,000 to finance, in whole or in part, the design, construction and other costs of improvements for Braddock Road Widening – Paul Vl Eastern Entrance to Loudoun County Parkway, Croson Lane Widening – Claiborne Parkway to Old Ryan Road, and Farmwell Road Intersections Improvements; and the costs of other public road and transportation projects approved in the County’s Capital Improvement Program?

    Yes

    No
    Parks and Recreation and Public Safety Projects QUESTION: Shall the County of Loudoun, Virginia contract a debt and issue its general obligation capital improvement bonds in the maximum principal amount of $32,631,000 to finance in whole or in part, the design, construction, equipping and other costs of the Cascades Library and Senior Center Complex Renovation, Linear Parks and Trails System, Sterling Neighborhood Park, and Fire and Rescue Station #02 / #14 – Purcellville Addition; and the costs of other public parks, recreational and community center and public safety projects approved in the County’s Capital Improvement Program?

    Yes

    No

    Prince William County

    Board of County Supervisors, Gainesville District (Vote for 1)

          • George T. Stewart
          • Patrick Richard Harders

    Member Town Council, Occoquan (Vote for 1)

    Stafford County

    Board of Supervisors, Hartwood District (Vote for 1)

          • Darrell E. English
          • Marcus T. Oats
          • Kelly M. Robertson

    School Board Member, Hartwood District (Vote for 1)

          • Shannon M. Fingerholz
          • Steven D. Epple

    Board of Supervisors, Aquia District (Vote for 1)

          • Maya P. Guy
          • Henry S. “Hank” Scharpenberg

    School Board Member, Aquia District (Vote for 1)

          • Annette E. Scharpenberg
          • Josh G. Regan

    Board of Supervisors, Falmouth District (Vote for 1)

          • Kecia S. Evans
          • Michael A. Catell

    School Board Member, Falmouth District (Vote for 1)

          • Sarah D. Breedin Chase
          • Fawn M. Chergosky

    Board of Supervisors, Garrisonville District (Vote for 1)

          • R. Pamela Yeung
          • Barton M. “Bart” Randall

    School Board Member, Garrisonville District (Vote for 1)

          • Wanda D. Blackwell
          • Maureen L. Siegmund
          • Stephanie J. Mojica

    Maryland

    In neighboring Maryland, residents in Annapolis, the City of Gaithersburg and Prince George’s County will also be heading to the voting booths to vote on city mayors and referendums, among other issues. Polls in Maryland do not close until 8 p.m.

    Prince George’s County

    City of Greenbelt, Council member (Vote no more than 7)

    • Frankie Santos Fritz
    • Bill Orleans
    • Kristen L. K. Weaver
    • Silke I. Pope
    • Emmett V. Jordan
    • Rodney M. Roberts
    • Kevin “Coach K” Lockhart
    • Danielle P. McKinney
    • Jenni Pompi
    • Amy Knesel

    City of Greenbelt, Referendums

    Do you approve of the City using Ranked Choice Voting for all City Council Member elections and amending the City Charter’s forty percent (40%) threshold criteria (Sec 31)?

    Yes

    No
    Should the Charter be amended to change Council terms from two years to four years?

    Yes

    No
    If four-year terms are approved, should Council Members be subject to Voter Recall Petitions during their terms in office?

    Yes

    No

    Montgomery County

    City of Gaithersburg, Mayoral Candidates

    Gaithersburg City Council Candidates

          • Lisa Henderson
          • Jim McNulty
          • Chris Thoms
          • Omodamola Williams

    City of Annapolis

    Mayoral Candidates (Vote for 1)

          • Jared Littmann
          • Robert “Bobby” Alan O’Shea

    Aldermanic Candidates, Ward 1 (Vote for 1)

          • Harry M. Huntley
          • Thomas “Tom” Krieck

    Aldermanic Candidates, Ward 2 (Vote for 1)

          • Karma O’Neill
          • Kenneth “Ken” G. Vincent

    Aldermanic Candidates, Ward 3 (Vote for 1)

          • Keanuú Smith-Brown
          • Michael L. Dye

    Aldermanic Candidates, Ward 4 (Vote for 1)

          • Janice Elaine Allsup-Johnson

    Aldermanic Candidates, Ward 5 (Vote for 1)

          • Brooks Schandelmeier
          • Jack P. Papaleonti

    Aldermanic Candidates, Ward 6 (Vote for 1)

          • Diesha Contee
          • George M. Gallagher

    Aldermanic Candidates, Ward 7 (Vote for 1)

    Aldermanic Candidates, Ward 8 (Vote for 1)

        • Frank Thorp
        • William R. Cunha

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Gaby Arancibia

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  • Democrat Abigail Spanberger wins Virginia governor’s race in major test for party, CBS News projects

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    Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger will defeat Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia gubernatorial race, CBS News projected Tuesday, marking one of Democrats’ first major victories since President Trump’s win last year.

    Spanberger will be Virginia’s first female governor.

    Virginia’s off-year gubernatorial race tends to serve as a referendum on the president who was elected a year prior — and historically, the president’s party has almost always lost.

    National politics were a throughline in this year’s race, especially the Trump administration’s sweeping federal layoffs and the still-unresolved month-long government shutdown, which has forced most federal workers to go without pay. Both issues are potent in Virginia, which has nearly 150,000 federal civilian jobs and is home to scores of military personnel.

    Spanberger, a former CIA officer and congresswoman, positioned herself as an adversary of the Trump administration and sought to link Earle-Sears to Mr. Trump. She frequently tried to capitalize on frustration over federal layoffs and Mr. Trump’s tariffs.

    Virginia has moved leftward in recent years, driven by shifts in the fast-growing suburbs of Washington, D.C., though Democrats lost ground last year, with Mr. Trump boosting his share of the statewide vote from 44% in 2020 to 46.1% in 2024.

    A year later, however, the president’s approval rating in Virginia stands at 42%, with 55% disapproving, according to exit poll data — a possible liability for Republicans.

    But the race also follows months of uncertainty for the Democratic Party, which was stung by its 2024 loss and is still riven by disagreements between its moderate and progressive factions on the party’s strategy moving forward. Meanwhile, just 34% of U.S. adults hold a favorable view of the party, compared to 41% for the GOP, according to a CBS News poll from last month.

    Earle-Sears, a Marine Corps veteran and former state lawmaker, took aim at Spanberger over immigration and the participation of transgender students in school sports.

    In recent weeks, the race has been dominated by a scandal in the usually lower-profile Virginia attorney general election, after text messages surfaced showing Democratic nominee Jay Jones used violent and incendiary language toward Republicans. Spanberger condemned the messages, but Earle-Sears pressed her to call for Jones to drop out of the race.

    Spanberger campaigned in the closing stretch with high-profile Democrats like former President Barack Obama, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

    Earle-Sears drew on support from Virginia’s popular but term-limited incumbent Gov. Glenn Youngkin, whose economic record Earle-Sears has touted. 

    But the Republican candidate wasn’t explicitly endorsed by Mr. Trump, the leader of her party, even though the president gave his “complete and total endorsement” to the GOP nominees in Virginia’s attorney general race and New Jersey’s gubernatorial race. Mr. Trump has offered some support for Earle-Sears — but not by name.

    “I think the Republican candidate is very good, and I think she should win because the Democrat candidate’s a disaster,” he told reporters two weeks ago, adding, “I haven’t been too much involved in Virginia.”

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  • Virginia’s Ghazala Hashmi becomes first Muslim elected statewide in the Old Dominion

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    The Fox News Decision Desk has projected that Democratic state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi will become the next lieutenant governor of Virginia. 

    Hashmi was born in Hyderabad, India, grew up in Georgia and has represented Chesterfield County in the Virginia state Senate in her most recent public role.

    She has a doctorate in American literature from Emory University and her campaign repeatedly highlighted her curriculum vitae as a public educator.

    She was a professor at the University of Richmond as well as the nearby J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College, where she was the first director of its Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

    WINSOME EARLE-SEARS REBUKES SPANBERGER PLAN TO UNDO VIRGINIA’S ICE PACT: ‘THIS IS NOT HARD’

    State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, gestures to a man offscreen in Richmond, Va. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

    Hashmi was the only statewide candidate in the Virginia sweeps to repeatedly decline invitations and challenges to debate her opponent.

    That opponent, Richmond broadcaster John Reid, in turn released a 45-minute mock debate video in which Hashmi’s public policy positions were highlighted in-fact, but by an AI version of the lieutenant governor-elect.

    Hashmi is also the first South Asian to have served in the state Senate.

    SPANBERGER DEFENDS ABORTION AD CRITICIZING SEARS AFTER BERNIE WARNS AGAINST HIGHLIGHTING ISSUE

    She is primed to preside over the upper chamber in the lieutenant governor’s most visible role – where she will wield the gavel over a narrowly-divided, Democratic majority Senate.

    Hashmi’s campaign focused on supporting public education, expanding Medicaid and protecting abortion rights.

    She also emphasized climate change, environmental protection and affordable housing — themes that align with mainstream Democratic priorities.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    On the campaign trail, Hashmi also reportedly said she hopes to lead a repeal of Virginia’s “Right to Work” law, which provides protections for workers against being required to join unions as a prerequisite for employment.

    She also presaged a contentious relationship with President Donald Trump, saying that his second term is “worse than the first time around,” and that the mogul has surrounded himself with “villainous creatures,” according to Annandale Today.

    Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. 

    He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant. 

    Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

    Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

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  • Abigail Spanberger wins Virginia, offers Democrats an alternative to mamdani’s socialism

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    Five years ago, as Democrats grappled with a disappointing congressional election that saw their House majority decline by more than a dozen seats despite Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election, then-Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D–Va.) voiced her frustration with the party’s lurch toward the political left.

    If Democrats didn’t shift back toward the center, “we will get fucking torn apart,” she warned on a conference call with some of the Democrats’ top brass. “And we need to not ever use the words socialist or socialism ever again.”

    History sometimes has a sense of humor.

    On Tuesday night, as New York City was poised to elect a new mayor who had expressly embraced the socialist label and become a national champion for the far-left wing of the Democratic Party, Spanberger also emerged victorious. She will be the next governor of Virginia—and the state’s first female governor—after defeating Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee.

    CNN called the race less than an hour after the polls closed, with Spanberger leading Earle-Sears by about nine points with 33 percent of precincts reporting.

    It’s a result that, when paired with Zohran Mamdani’s likely victory in the other big race on this low-key Election Day, offers Democrats two divergent paths as the party heads into next year’s midterm elections and beyond. And while Mamdani’s win, like his campaign, gets more media attention, it is the result in Virginia that probably says more about what Democrats need to do if they want their party’s brand to be more viable on the national stage.

    They can start by taking some lessons from how Spanberger has bluntly dissected the party’s recent troubles. During her three terms in Congress from 2019 through 2024, Spanberger earned a reputation as one of the most interesting and independent members of the Democratic caucus. She criticized her own party for failing to recognize that “inflation is a problem” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and blamed Biden for overreaching politically. “Nobody elected him to be [Franklin Delano Roosevelt], they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos,” she told The New York Times in November 2021.

    She walked the centrist walk as well. The Bipartisan Index, a ranking of members of Congress issued by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University, identified Spanberger as the 17th most bipartisan member of the House in 2023—as determined by her votes.

    Bipartisanship isn’t always a good thing on its own merits, of course. As you might expect, some of Spanberger’s record is interesting to libertarians. During Biden’s term, she helped block a provision that would have required banks to report all transactions of $600 or more to the IRS, citing concerns about privacy. In 2021, she worked with a fascinating collection of lawmakers—including Reps. Barbara Lee (D–Calif.) and Chip Roy (R–Texas)—to get the House to repeal the 1991 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against Iraq (and an even older AUMF dating to 1957).

    “We must be accountable to the American people and cannot abdicate this responsibility to open-ended AUMFs that give too much power to a President and don’t require Congress to take consequential votes,” she said in 2023 as she backed a similar bill. (Both the House and Senate have passed measures to repeal that authorization, but the process has still not been finalized.)

    On the other hand, one of Spanberger’s biggest accomplishments in Congress was passing a bill to increase Social Security benefits for public workers who already receive pensions. It was a bipartisan effort, naturally, but it also blew an even larger hole in Social Security’s already leaky fiscal situation—and, as I wrote last year, it was fundamentally unfair.

    As governor, Spanberger will quickly face at least one issue that will challenge her carefully crafted bipartisan persona.

    Democrats expected to hold onto their majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature. Politics being what it is in the mid-2020s, one of the first things on the agenda in Richmond is not any kind of state-level policymaking but an attempt to influence federal politics with a mid-decade redistricting effort that could help flip the U.S. House of Representatives next year.

    Asked on the campaign trail whether she would support a redistricting bill—along the lines of what California and Texas are already doing—Spanberger said last month that she would not oppose it. That’s despite previously saying that gerrymandering is “one of the largest issues plaguing our country.”

    It’s the kind of zero-sum issue where there is no easy, bipartisan solution—one side will get what they want, and the other will not.

    There is also another way to look at Spanberger’s win—not as a response to anything she’s done in office or on the campaign trail, but simply the result of being in the right place at the right time. Since 1977, the party that won the White House in the previous year has lost the Virginia gubernatorial election in every cycle but one—Democrat Terry McAuliffe beat Republican Ken Cuccinelli in 2013, a year after Barack Obama was reelected to the presidency. Maybe Spanberger just got lucky, as a Democratic candidate in a blue-leaning state with a lot of disgruntled federal workers and right across the Potomac River from a Republican in the White House.

    But even if this election was more about national mood than anything specific to Virginia and Virginians, that might be even more of a reason for national Democrats to look to Spanberger rather than Mamdani for the path forward. After all, she’s won in an environment that looks a lot more like what next year’s midterms will.

    Asked by The New Yorker about the meaning of Mamdani’s likely win in this year’s most-watched race, Spanberger offered a typically blunt assessment: “As a candidate to be the governor of Virginia, I don’t want to be disrespectful—like, I don’t care that much about what happens in the city of New York.”

    Democrats elsewhere should adopt that same approach in the months and years ahead.

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    Eric Boehm

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  • Virginia governor race underlines future hopes for Democrats as Spanberger makes final campaign push

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    This fall’s race for Virginia governor offers Democrats a chance to start recovering from stinging losses in last year’s presidential election. 

    It also brings the risk that the party could slip further into the doldrums that hurt its brand with voters around the country in 2024. 

    The Nov. 4 election for governor of Virginia — pitting former Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger against Republican Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears — will serve as one of Democrats’ first major opportunities to rebound from the setbacks they suffered in the 2024 presidential election, when they also lost control of the Senate and failed to retake control of the House. 

    Spanberger rallies with Obama

    Spanberger held a rally with former President Barack Obama on the weekend before Election Day. President Trump, however, has had little involvement as Earle-Sears looks to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin and become the first GOP candidate since 1997 to succeed a fellow Republican as governor of the commonwealth.

    Mr. Trump has not formally endorsed Earle-Sears. In a telephone rally on the eve of the election, the president attacked Spanberger and encouraged people to vote for Republicans up and down the ballot, but he didn’t mention Earle-Sears by name.

    Under Virginia law, a governor cannot serve for two consecutive terms, which has resulted in open races for the office without the advantage of incumbency. Regardless of who wins between the two in November, Spanberger or Earle-Sears will become the Commonwealth’s first ever female governor. 

    Candidates for the Virginia governor’s election: Democrat Abigail Spanberger, left, and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears.

    AP


    The Trump administration’s impact on the federal workforce and the ongoing shutdown may also be on voters’ minds in the coming days, as they get their say in a contest that historically has been fraught with prospect of serving as a rebuke to the incumbent in the White House. 

    “It is because of the trade wars and the retaliatory tariff policies and the attack on Virginia, our economy and our people, that we recognize the possibility of November 4, that we recognize how important it is to have a governor who will stand up for Virginians,” Spanberger said at a recent event. 

    State of the race

    Spanberger headed into the start of early voting in September with a clear advantage in the contest. That momentum threatened to be impacted, however, by a controversy that has made its way through Virginia politics. She has faced difficult political questions in attempting to respond to violent text messages, authored by Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee in the Virginia Attorney General’s race, about a Republican leader. 

    “I’m asking my opponent to please, ask him to get out of the race,” Earle-Sears said during the lone debate between the two candidates. “Have some political courage. What you have done is you are taking political calculations about your future as governor. Well as governor, you have to make hard choices, and that means telling Jay Jones to leave the race.” 

    Spanberger has denounced Jones’ words, which were made public after the start of early voting, where he wrote in the past about a fantasy hypothetical situation involving the shooting of a Virginia state House Republican leader. 

    Jones however has not left the race, and is still running as the Democratic attorney general candidate in the Nov. 4 election. 

    That dynamic has provided Virginia Republicans with an issue against Democrats that could alienate moderates and independents at a time where concerns about political violence are rampant. Virginia Democrats are also mounting a last-minute effort to redraw congressional districts in the state to help the left counter Mr. Trump’s successful push in a series of red states to undertake an overhaul of district maps in hopes of helping Republicans hold on to the House in next year’s midterm elections. 

    Anne Bryson and

    Seiji Yamashita

    contributed to this report.

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  • Trump to helm election-eve tele-rally for Virginia ticket, as window to formally endorse Winsome Sears closes

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    President Donald Trump is expected to headline a tele-rally for the entire Virginia Republican statewide ticket, offering one of his last opportunities to issue a formal endorsement of the gubernatorial nominee, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

    Trump has praised Earle-Sears during the campaign and said she “must win” against Democrat Abigail Spanberger, but stopped short of issuing a ringing endorsement as he has for former New Jersey Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, R-Somerville, in that state’s gubernatorial contest.

    Little was made public about the tele-rally, and who would virtually attend such an event – including a Ciattarelli event also being held Monday evening.

    But tele-town halls in other states, like those held occasionally by state lawmakers in Pennsylvania, often start with voters or constituents receiving a robo-call with a legislator’s voice asking them to press a button to be connected to the call – which then can either be a Q&A or the lawmaker describing their work in the recent term.

    TRUMP VOICES SUPPORT FOR GOP GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE, ADMITS SHE HAS ‘TOUGH RACE’

    Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and President Trump (Al Drago/Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    A source familiar with prior such tele-rallies between Trump and Virginia voters said they do drive turnout.

    The source recounted Trump’s efforts in the waning hours of the 2021 gubernatorial election, when he held a similar event remotely in support of now-outgoing-Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

    Youngkin had been polling well below ex-Gov. Terry McAuliffe throughout the race – similar to how Earle-Sears has been underperforming against Spanberger – but ultimately engineered an upset by just over one percentage point over the Democrat.

    “The president did a tele-rally for [Youngkin] the day before his election and he won by 60,000 votes — that was the difference,” the source said.

    SPANBERGER USES SPONGEBOB TO MOCK SEARS-TRUMP RELATIONSHIP, AS PRESIDENT PRAISES GOP NOM

    However, after Youngkin won the GOP nomination in 2021, Trump explicitly issued his “complete and total endorsement” to the businessman and slammed McAuliffe as an unsavory “Clinton bagman.”

    The themes in the two races remain similar – including the economy, southwestern Virginia’s energy potential and northern Virginia’s transgender bathroom controversies.

    In New York, frontrunner Zohran Mamdani mocked independent Andrew Cuomo with a “Trump endorsement” meme, which was retweeted by Virginia pollster Larry Sabato, who warned that if Earle-Sears does get the president’s official nod Monday, “Virginians may see something similar tomorrow, given Trump’s low popularity in Virginia.”

    And Democrats argue Trump’s involvement could backfire given his low favorability in Virginia.

    In 2021, Youngkin chipped away ever so slightly at Democrats’ margins in deep-blue Washington, D.C., suburbs – while also proverbially running up the score in Republican-rich but vote-poor southwestern Virginia – a combination that propelled him to victory.

    RAMASWAMY ENDORSES WINSOME EARLE-SEARS FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR, RALLY PLANNED NEXT WEEK IN SWING SUBURB

    At a Montgomery County rally for Earle-Sears, Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., said it is imperative that people on the fence get out and vote in his rural end of the state.

    Recent polls showed Attorney General Jason Miyares with the highest current statistical shot of winning his race, leading scandal-plagued former Del. Jay Jones, D-Norfolk.

    In the lieutenant governorship sweeps, Richmond broadcaster and former congressional communications director John Reid is tied for or within the margin of error of state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield.

    While battling to take back power at the statewide level in Richmond, Republicans are also playing defense in as many as a dozen state delegate seats across the state that Democrats see as pickups.

    TRUMP STUMPS FOR ENTIRE VIRGINIA GOP TICKET, WHILE YET TO FORMALLY ENDORSE EARLE-SEARS

    They include Loudoun County’s last remaining GOP delegate, Geary Higgins, and several Republicans in the Washington exurbs, including Del. Paul Milde in Prince William County and Ian Lovejoy and House Minority Whip Michael Webert in Fauquier County.

    Democrats also hope to unseat Dels. Carrie Coyner in Hopewell, Kim Taylor in Dinwiddie County, A.C. Cordoza in York County and Del. David Owen in Henrico County – which would greatly expand their narrow two-vote majority.

    State Senate seats are not up until 2027.

    Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on the state of an Earle-Sears endorsement.

    TRUMP YET TO ENDORSE IN VA GOVERNOR’S RACE – BUT ALSO KEPT YOUNGKIN AT ARM’S LENGTH

    A source familiar with the event said Youngkin urged Virginians to support the full ticket, emphasizing that Earle-Sears would continue the “commonsense, conservative leadership that has delivered results under Governor Youngkin.”

    Youngkin and Trump made a clear contrast between the Republican ticket’s platform and the “extreme, far-left policies” of past governors.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    Fox News Digital reached out to the Republican National Committee for further comment on Trump’s appearance, while a source familiar with the rally said the event closely mirrored one four years ago that helped propel Youngkin past statistically favored Democrat Terry McAuliffe.

    Youngkin did overperform expectations in both red and blue areas that election.

    Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. 

    He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant. 

    Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

    Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

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  • What’s on the ballot in the first general election since Donald Trump became president

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    One year after Donald Trump retook the White House and set into motion a dramatic expansion of executive power, the Republican president figures prominently in state and local elections being held Tuesday. Video above: House Speaker Mike Johnson talks about potential impact of Tuesday’s elections on the government shutdownThe results of those contests — the first general election of Trump’s second term — will be heralded by the victors as either a major repudiation or resounding stamp of approval of his second-term agenda. That’s especially true in high-profile races for Virginia and New Jersey governor, New York City mayor, and a California proposition to redraw its congressional district boundaries. More than half of the states will hold contests on Tuesday. Here’s a look at some of the major statewide and local races on the ballot: In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli are the nominees to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Sherrill is a four-term U.S. representative and former Navy helicopter pilot. Ciattarelli is a former state Assemblyman backed by Trump. In 2021, Ciattarelli came within about 3 percentage points of toppling Murphy.In Virginia, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger look to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. While Spanberger has made some efforts to focus on topics other than Trump in stump speeches, the president remained a major topic of conversation throughout the campaign, from comments Earle-Sears made about him in 2022 to some of his more polarizing policies, such as the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill tax and spending cut measure and the widespread dismissal of federal workers, many of whom live in northern Virginia.Trump was scheduled to participate in telephone rallies for the candidates on Monday night. As the only gubernatorial races held in the year following a presidential election, the contests have long served as the first major test of voter sentiment toward the party holding the White House. In every race for governor since 1973, one or both states have elected a governor from a party different than that of the sitting president. The race to lead the nation’s largest city features Democratic state legislator Zohran Mamdani, independent candidate and former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.Mamdani’s comfortable victory over Cuomo in the June primary generated excitement from the party’s more progressive wing and apprehension among the party establishment. Party leaders like Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries eventually endorsed the self-described democratic socialist months after he won the nomination.The winner will replace outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who initially sought renomination as a Democrat. After losing the primary, Adams opted to run as an independent, but dropped out of the race in September and eventually endorsed Cuomo. In February, the Trump Justice Department asked a court to drop corruption charges against Adams because the case impeded Trump’s “immigration objectives.” Trump later said he’d like to see both Adams and Sliwa drop out of the race in an effort to defeat Mamdani. California voters will decide a statewide ballot measure that would enact a new congressional map that could flip as many as five Republican-held U.S. House seats to Democratic control. Proposition 50, championed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, is in response to a new Texas map that state Republicans enacted in August as part of Trump’s efforts to keep the U.S. House under Republican control in the 2026 midterms. The Texas plan, which could help Republicans flip five Democratic-held U.S. House seats, has sparked an escalating gerrymandering arms race among states to pass new maps outside of the regular once-a-decade schedule. Control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will be at stake when voters cast Yes or No votes on whether to retain three justices from the high court’s 5-2 Democratic majority. Partisan control of the court could have major implications for the 2028 presidential race, since justices might be asked to rule on election disputes, as they did in 2020. Spending on Tuesday’s contests is on track to exceed $15 million as Republicans have campaigned to end the majority and Democrats have responded. If all three justices are ousted, a deadlock in the confirmation process to replace them could result in a court tied at 2-2. An election to fill any vacant seats for full 10-year terms would be held in 2027. Virginia attorney generalRepublican incumbent Jason Miyares seeks a second term against Democrat Jay Jones. Much of the fall campaign has focused on text messages suggesting violence against political rivals that Jones sent in 2022.Texas-18 Sixteen candidates hope to fill a vacant congressional seat previously held by the late Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner.State legislaturesControl of the Minnesota Senate and Virginia House of Delegates is at stake, while New Jersey Democrats defend their 52-28 General Assembly majority.Ballot measuresMaine voters will decide statewide questions on voting and a “red flag” law aimed at preventing gun violence. Texas’ 17 ballot measures include constitutional amendments on parental rights and limiting voting to U.S. citizens. Colorado and Washington also have statewide measures on the ballot.Mayors Detroit, Pittsburgh, Jersey City and Buffalo will elect new mayors, while incumbents in Atlanta, Minneapolis and Cincinnati seek another term.

    WASHINGTON —

    One year after Donald Trump retook the White House and set into motion a dramatic expansion of executive power, the Republican president figures prominently in state and local elections being held Tuesday.

    Video above: House Speaker Mike Johnson talks about potential impact of Tuesday’s elections on the government shutdown

    The results of those contests — the first general election of Trump’s second term — will be heralded by the victors as either a major repudiation or resounding stamp of approval of his second-term agenda. That’s especially true in high-profile races for Virginia and New Jersey governor, New York City mayor, and a California proposition to redraw its congressional district boundaries.

    More than half of the states will hold contests on Tuesday. Here’s a look at some of the major statewide and local races on the ballot:

    In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli are the nominees to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Sherrill is a four-term U.S. representative and former Navy helicopter pilot. Ciattarelli is a former state Assemblyman backed by Trump. In 2021, Ciattarelli came within about 3 percentage points of toppling Murphy.

    In Virginia, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger look to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. While Spanberger has made some efforts to focus on topics other than Trump in stump speeches, the president remained a major topic of conversation throughout the campaign, from comments Earle-Sears made about him in 2022 to some of his more polarizing policies, such as the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill tax and spending cut measure and the widespread dismissal of federal workers, many of whom live in northern Virginia.

    Trump was scheduled to participate in telephone rallies for the candidates on Monday night.

    As the only gubernatorial races held in the year following a presidential election, the contests have long served as the first major test of voter sentiment toward the party holding the White House. In every race for governor since 1973, one or both states have elected a governor from a party different than that of the sitting president.

    The race to lead the nation’s largest city features Democratic state legislator Zohran Mamdani, independent candidate and former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

    Mamdani’s comfortable victory over Cuomo in the June primary generated excitement from the party’s more progressive wing and apprehension among the party establishment. Party leaders like Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries eventually endorsed the self-described democratic socialist months after he won the nomination.

    The winner will replace outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who initially sought renomination as a Democrat. After losing the primary, Adams opted to run as an independent, but dropped out of the race in September and eventually endorsed Cuomo. In February, the Trump Justice Department asked a court to drop corruption charges against Adams because the case impeded Trump’s “immigration objectives.” Trump later said he’d like to see both Adams and Sliwa drop out of the race in an effort to defeat Mamdani.

    California voters will decide a statewide ballot measure that would enact a new congressional map that could flip as many as five Republican-held U.S. House seats to Democratic control.

    Proposition 50, championed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, is in response to a new Texas map that state Republicans enacted in August as part of Trump’s efforts to keep the U.S. House under Republican control in the 2026 midterms. The Texas plan, which could help Republicans flip five Democratic-held U.S. House seats, has sparked an escalating gerrymandering arms race among states to pass new maps outside of the regular once-a-decade schedule.

    Control of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will be at stake when voters cast Yes or No votes on whether to retain three justices from the high court’s 5-2 Democratic majority.

    Partisan control of the court could have major implications for the 2028 presidential race, since justices might be asked to rule on election disputes, as they did in 2020. Spending on Tuesday’s contests is on track to exceed $15 million as Republicans have campaigned to end the majority and Democrats have responded.

    If all three justices are ousted, a deadlock in the confirmation process to replace them could result in a court tied at 2-2. An election to fill any vacant seats for full 10-year terms would be held in 2027.

    Virginia attorney general

    Republican incumbent Jason Miyares seeks a second term against Democrat Jay Jones. Much of the fall campaign has focused on text messages suggesting violence against political rivals that Jones sent in 2022.

    Texas-18

    Sixteen candidates hope to fill a vacant congressional seat previously held by the late Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner.

    State legislatures

    Control of the Minnesota Senate and Virginia House of Delegates is at stake, while New Jersey Democrats defend their 52-28 General Assembly majority.

    Ballot measures

    Maine voters will decide statewide questions on voting and a “red flag” law aimed at preventing gun violence. Texas’ 17 ballot measures include constitutional amendments on parental rights and limiting voting to U.S. citizens. Colorado and Washington also have statewide measures on the ballot.

    Mayors

    Detroit, Pittsburgh, Jersey City and Buffalo will elect new mayors, while incumbents in Atlanta, Minneapolis and Cincinnati seek another term.

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