ARLINGTON, Va. – Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia governor’s race, dealing a blow to the Republican Party ahead of consequential elections next year that will decide the balance of power in Congress during the final two years of President Donald Trump's second term.

“Tonight, we sent a message,” Spanberger said at a victory rally in Richmond. “We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our Commonwealth over chaos.”

Dressed in a dark red suit, she stressed her middle-of-the-road brand of politics and said Virginia had “turned a page."

Spanberger is the first woman elected to lead the commonwealth since it became a state in 1788.

After she won, Spanberger said her husband told her children their mother was going to be governor. "I can guarantee those words have never been spoken in Virginia before," she joked to the crowd at her victory rally.

"It’s a big deal,” she said. "The history Virginia is making tonight is yours."

Held in the year after the presidential election, Virginia’s gubernatorial election is viewed as one of the first tests of voter sentiment toward the new administration and the policy issues that have risen to the forefront of national politics. It’s also a bellwether for the midterms, which come next November.

This year’s race came amid Trump's return to the White House and a wide range of his cuts to the federal workforce, plus new tariffs that rattled global financial markets that political analysts said weighed on voters' minds. Political violence in the late summer and early fall, along with a government shutdown that began Oct. 1 also appeared to animate voters in the final days of the campaign.

Spanberger, 46, campaigned on the discontent of laid-off and furloughed federal workers, and she sought to highlight the economic toll of Trump’s agenda in Virginia.

Standing on stage Nov. 4, Spanberger again vowed to protect the state's jobs.

“I will always stand up for Virginia workers… and right now, our federal workforce is under attack and the chaos coming out of Washington is killing Virginia jobs and creating economic uncertainty for tens of thousands of families,” Spanberger said.

Spanberger led Earle-Sears by double digits for much of the race, but controversial text messages from the Democratic candidate for attorney general published weeks before Election Day threatened her frontrunner status.

Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones faced national backlash after recent media reports showing he wrote in 2022 that the statehouse speaker should get “two bullets to the head.” Those messages, which Jones sent to a Republican colleague, prompted Spanberger to express “disgust” but she stopped short of calling on him to exit the race.

Earle-Sears had already been characterizing Spanberger and Democrats more broadly as violent and hate-filled after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which Spanberger condemned. The texts allowed her to double down in advertisements leading up to Election Day.

Who is Abigail Spanberger?

Prior to her run for governor, Spanberger served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing northern and central parts of Virginia. In 2019, she became the first Democrat elected to represent the district in more than 40 years.

Spanberger worked at the CIA from 2006 to 2014 as an operations officer, gathering intelligence on nuclear proliferation and terrorism. She also served on the Virginia Fair Housing Board under then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Throughout her political career, Spanberger has garnered a reputation as a centrist focused on fiscal issues and public safety.

She is married and has three daughters.

Who is Winsome Earle-Sears?

Earle-Sears immigrated to the U.S. at age six from Jamaica.

She first entered Virginia politics in 2002 and has repeatedly cracked the state’s glass ceiling, becoming the first Republican Black woman elected to the House of Delegates, and then in 2021, the first woman lieutenant governor.

The Marine veteran focused her campaign for governor on culture war issues, including transgender students’ use of bathrooms in schools.

She is married with three children and two grandchildren.

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Karissa Waddick, a reporter on USA TODAY's Nation desk, can be reached at kwaddick@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abigail Spanberger cruises to victory in Virginia governor's race

Reporting by Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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