Oh, Virginia!
An astonishing 15-point win by Democrat Abigail Spanberger to become Virginia's next governor helped propel her party to a broad sweep of the state's top offices.
Why it matters: Off-year elections in Virginia — a state filled with federal workers hit by job cuts and furloughs — can act as a bellwether in the first year of a presidency.
Virginians "chose pragmatism over partisanship" and the "Commonwealth over chaos," Spanberger — the first woman ever elected Virginia governor — told supporters in declaring victory.
The victory also gives Democrats unified control of the state government for the first time since 2021 — and they picked up at least 10 seats in the House of Delegates. That's "a level of dominance the party has not enjoyed in more than three decades," The Washington Post stated.
The winning Democratic ticket is one of the most diverse in state history, Axios Richmond's Sabrina Moreno writes:
Spanberger will be the state's first woman governor.
Ghazala Hashmi is the first Muslim woman to be elected to statewide office in the U.S.
Jones will be Virginia's first Black attorney general.
📊 6 in 10 voters in Virginia and New Jersey said they're "angry" or "dissatisfied" with the way things are going in the country, the AP Voter Poll found. Just one-third said they are "enthusiastic" or "satisfied," AP reports.
In a sign of the extent of the GOP's struggles, Republicans lost the Virginia attorney general's race to Democrat Jay Jones, who was forced to apologize after text messages surfaced weeks before Election Day in which he depicted the murder of political opponents.
Stat du jour: "No woman has led Virginia since its colonial government was formed 406 years ago." (The Washington Post)
Source:
Mike Allen/Axios
Why it matters: Off-year elections in Virginia — a state filled with federal workers hit by job cuts and furloughs — can act as a bellwether in the first year of a presidency.
Virginians "chose pragmatism over partisanship" and the "Commonwealth over chaos," Spanberger — the first woman ever elected Virginia governor — told supporters in declaring victory.
The victory also gives Democrats unified control of the state government for the first time since 2021 — and they picked up at least 10 seats in the House of Delegates. That's "a level of dominance the party has not enjoyed in more than three decades," The Washington Post stated.
The winning Democratic ticket is one of the most diverse in state history, Axios Richmond's Sabrina Moreno writes:
Spanberger will be the state's first woman governor.
Ghazala Hashmi is the first Muslim woman to be elected to statewide office in the U.S.
Jones will be Virginia's first Black attorney general.
📊 6 in 10 voters in Virginia and New Jersey said they're "angry" or "dissatisfied" with the way things are going in the country, the AP Voter Poll found. Just one-third said they are "enthusiastic" or "satisfied," AP reports.
In a sign of the extent of the GOP's struggles, Republicans lost the Virginia attorney general's race to Democrat Jay Jones, who was forced to apologize after text messages surfaced weeks before Election Day in which he depicted the murder of political opponents.
Stat du jour: "No woman has led Virginia since its colonial government was formed 406 years ago." (The Washington Post)
Source:
Mike Allen/Axios
