Former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, who represented a swing district in the U.S. House for six years, will be the next governor of Virginia after riding an anti-Trump wave into office on Tuesday. Ms. Spanberger is projected to defeat her opponent, lieutenant governor Winsome Earle-Sears, by more than 13 points, which would be the best performance for a Democrat in a Virginia gubernatorial election since 1961.

Ms. Spanberger flipped a Republican House seat to the Democrats in the 2018 wave midterm election and held on to the seat until she retired in 2024 in order to run for governor. During the gubernatorial race, she focused on her national security background as a former CIA officer, affordability, and federal employment cuts enacted by President Trump. 

The Associated Press called the race for Ms. Spanberger just over one hour after the polls closed in Virginia. 

“Tonight, we sent a message,” Ms. Spanberger told supporters after she was declared the winner. “We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship.”

“It is the honor of my lifetime to be elected the 75th Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia!” she declared, standing on stage with her husband and children. She praised Ms. Earle-Sears for her public service — including her service in the Marine Corps — and wished the lieutenant governor during her speech.

The Democrats’ candidate for lieutenant governor, state senator Ghazala Hashmi, also cruised to victory by a double-digit margin on Tuesday. 

The more controversial person on the ticket, former state lawmaker Jay Jones, was able to capture the office of attorney general despite the disclosure that he had said in a text message that his political opponent should be shot. 

According to a report from the National Review, Mr. Jones said in a text message to a fellow state lawmaker in 2022 that he would shoot the Republican speaker of the house of delegates, even if he was in the same room as Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot. In separate messages to that same colleague, Mr. Jones also wrote that the then-speaker and his wife were “breeding little fascists” and that the speaker would only change his political positions if his children died in his wife’s arms.

Observers never doubted her ability to win, considering President Trump lost the state by six points in 2024 on the same night that he won the Electoral College and national popular vote. His policies have had a disproportionate effect on Virginia’s population and economy, which likely made it impossible for Republicans to overcome their deficit in statewide elections this year. 

Virginia has one of the highest populations of federal employees in the nation, with more than 147,000 individuals employed by the federal government, as of September 2024. The only state with more federal employees is California, which is home to 150,000 individuals on the federal payroll. California’s population, however, is more than four times the size of Virginia’s, however. 

Though no official numbers have been released about federal jobs cuts in Virginia specifically, Mr. Trump is likely responsible for tens of thousands of people losing their jobs this past year due to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficient Cuts and his layoffs during the government shutdown. 

Mr. Trump himself is clearly weighing heavily on Republicans in Virginia. According to one exit poll from NBC News, Mr. Trump’s approval rating in the state is just 41 percent, compared to 56 percent of respondents who disapprove of his job performance.