Democrats Sweep Statewide Races in Virginia, Projected to Gain Delegate Seats, As Voters Reject Trumpism

In a rebuke to President Donald Trump, Democrat Abigail Spanberger won Virginia’s gubernatorial race Tuesday, part of a Democratic sweep of statewide races. Her support for constitutional amendments on redistricting and voting rights restoration could make it easier to pass both pro-democracy measures.

Spanberger, a former U.S. Representative and CIA official, will replace term-limited Glenn Youngkin (R) in Richmond, after defeating Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R) to become Virginia’s first female governor. Spanberger ran a staunchly anti-Trump campaign.

In another sign of Democratic strength, former delegate Jay Jones (D) unseated incumbent Jason Miyares (R) in the attorney general’s race — a contest many observers had expected Miyares to win after Jones was mired in a texting scandal. And State Sen. Ghazala F. Hashmi (D) won the Lt. Governor’s race over Republican radio host John Reid, becoming the first Muslim woman to win a statewide race in the U.S.

“Commonwealth voters made it clear what they were looking for from their next governor: lower costs, good jobs, affordable health care, and strong schools. And tonight, those same voters made it clear who they want to lead: Abigail Spanberger,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “With tonight’s victory, Virginians also delivered a resounding rejection of the self-serving and corrupt Trump establishment.”

Down ballot, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) announced that the party had maintained control of the Virginia House of Delegates. “With several key races yet to be called, Democrats have already secured enough seats to protect their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates tonight – the most competitive legislative chamber on the ballot this year,” the DLCC said in a statement.

That would mean Democrats hold a trifecta of both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor’s mansion as they push for a series of pro-democratic reforms next year.

Spanberger’s win could have major implications for voting rights in Virginia, with two constitutional amendments — one to allow Virginia to redraw its congressional maps, and another to automatically restore voting rights for people with past criminal convictions — making their way through the General Assembly for a second time before going to voters in ballot referenda. 

Virginia Democrats could seek to gain as many as four new congressional seats by redrawing the map — helping to counter the GOP’s Trump-driven gerrymander conducted in other states. 

While the governor plays no formal role in the constitutional amendment process, Spanberger’s support for congressional redistricting will help the get the measure through the General Assembly again next year and get it on the ballot. 

And Jones’ win means an end to Miyares’ efforts to throw up roadblocks to the plan. Miyares’ office recently published a non-binding legal opinion arguing the proposed constitutional amendment was improperly introduced amid the 2025 elections.

Virginia is also one of three states that don’t automatically restore voting rights once an inmate is released from prison. Instead, formerly incarcerated people must petition the governor on a case-by-case basis for approval. More than 300,000 Virginians remain disenfranchised over prior felony convictions, including one in eight Black residents. 

Spanberger’s support for the rights restoration amendment will provide cover for some statehouse Democrats, making it easier for them to push for the reform. More immediately, Jones’ victory will mean the AG’s office will stop defending the felony disenfranchisement law against legal challenges in federal court. 

Once the province of local issues, this year’s off-year elections have been dominated by national politics. Even ahead of Tuesday’s results, media coverage began framing the races in Virginia, along with other major contests in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as a referendum on President Donald Trump. 

And Virginians told Trump and the GOP to buzz off.

Governor: Abigail Spanberger

Spanberger won the gubernatorial race decisively, with the AP calling the race at 8:00 p.m. ET, one hour after polls closed. 

Spanberger made a point of campaigning in the ruby red rural parts of the state, trying to bolster down ballot General Assembly races with her affordability-focused message, and perhaps offer Democrats a roadmap to contesting other GOP strongholds in the 2026 midterms.

In a state that was home to 320,000 federal employees before the Trump administration began recklessly slashing government agencies this year, Earle-Sears did little to distance herself from Trump’s cuts or the ongoing government shutdown, which most voters blame on Republicans. Instead, she relied on the same anti-transgender strategy that some pundits credited for Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s win in 2021 and Trump’s national victory in 2024 — even though polls showed it was a top concern for only 3 percent of voters and that they preferred Democrats’ approach to Republicans’.

As of 9:56 p.m. Spanberger led Earle-Sears by roughly 13 points, with 86% of the vote counted. 

Early tallies showed that turnout in the northern Virginia suburbs was up greatly compared to previous gubernatorial races, with Spanberger winning larger shares of the vote than Vice President Kamala Harris did in 2024. 

Attorney General: Jay Jones

Jones’ win was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night, and could have big ramifications in Democrats’ efforts to secure electoral reforms in Virginia. 

Once a relatively apolitical prosecutorial and administrative position, attorneys general have grown in national influence in recent decades, particularly as Trump has made a mockery of the GOP’s past fealty to states rights by pressuring — and even ordering — local officials into obsequience. Jones pledged to stand up to Trump while running ads highlighting the president’s endorsement of Miyares. Miyares campaigned as a life-long prosecutor who’d keep Virginians safe, casting Jones as a political hack. 

Jones’s support crumbled in the final weeks of the race, as violent texts about a Republican state lawmaker sent in 2022 surfaced. Jones had accidentally included Republican Carrie Emerson Coyner in the group text, where he joked about shooting the then-House of Delegates speaker. The texts emerged a month before Election Day, as early voting was just beginning. The killings this year of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk and a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota, along with the attempted assassination of Trump last year and increasingly heated rhetoric from the White House casting political opponents as “enemies,” have heightened voters’ worries about political violence.

While Jones apologized, Republicans quickly demanded he drop out of the race as money flowed into Miyrares’ campaign coffers to fill the airwaves with ads about the scandal. Jones was also hit with another scandal, as reports emerged that after being cited with reckless driving in 2020, Jones allegedly completed half of this 1,000 hours of community service volunteering for his own political action committee. 

Before the texting scandal broke, Jones led in most polls by roughly five points. An NBC exit poll on Tuesday found that 46% of Virginia voters found Jones’ texts to be “disqualifying.”

But the final results had Jones eking out ahead, with most Virginia voters declining to split their ticket to support Miyares, whom Trump endorsed. As of 9:58 p.m. Jones led Miyares by roughly 4 points with 86% of the vote counted. 

Lieutenant Governor: Ghazala Hashmi

Riding on Spanberger’s coattails, Hashmi won the Lt. Governor’s race comfortably. As of 9:58 p.m., Hashmi led Reid by roughly 12 points with 86% of the vote counted. 

As president of the state Senate, the Lt. Governor has the ability to break tie votes on most bills. Democrats hold the chamber by a slim 21-19 majority. In addition to the vote-related issues Hashmi may end up casting key votes on constitutional amendments on voting, abortion rights, and protecting same-sex marriage.   

House of Delegates: Democrats Hold

Democrats flipped at least 11 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, the DLCC announced Tuesday night.

Democrats entered the race with a narrow 51-48 edge in the House and hopes of flipping as many as 15 seats, having raised roughly double what Republicans did in statehouse races. The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project, ranked 10 House races as “competitive” — seven held by GOP incumbents, and three by Democrats.

All 100 seats in the House were on the ballot Tuesday. The Senate, where Democrats hold a 21-19 majority, was not up for election this year. 

Democrats’ continued control of the legislature has huge implications for voting rights in the Old Dominion, with two constitutional amendments now working their way through the General Assembly.

Before any amendment to the Virginia Constitution can go before voters in a referendum, it must pass the General Assembly twice in successive legislative sessions by simple majority votes in both chambers.

Democrats in the General Assembly already advanced the first step of two constitutional amendments: One to guarantee automatic voting rights restoration for ex-felons, and another to allow the commonwealth to redraw its congressional maps.

Tuesday’s results would mirror those from 2017, when Democrats disgusted by Trump flipped 15 seats – a 16th race ended in a perfect tie and only stayed in the GOP’s hands literally thanks to the luck of the draw.

Among the Republican projected to lose Tuesday was Coyner, the Republican state delegate who exposed Jones’ abusive texts. 

*This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.