Democrat Abigail Spanberger wins VA gubernatorial election against GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears

WASHINGTON — Democratic former Rep. Abigail Spanberger was projected to defeat Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia governor’s race Tuesday, ending a rare term of GOP control in the commonwealth ushered in by Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s upset victory over Terry McAuliffe in 2021.

The 46-year-old Spanberger, who will become the first female governor in Virginia’s history, campaigned on endorsements from past House GOP colleagues that emphasized her “integrity” and “bipartisan” appeal, while attacking Earle-Sears’ support for the Trump administration — including its layoffs of federal workers, many of whom live in deep-blue Northern Virginia.

The Jamaica-born Earle-Sears, 61, ran hard on social issues like keeping trans women out of female sports, opposition to abortion, support for law enforcement and school choice — while seeking to tie Spanberger to far-left Democrats like “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on issues such as immigration and antisemitism.

With Republicans holding the presidency and both chambers of Congress, Spanberger consistently led Earle-Sears in public polling and was set to at least double Kamala Harris’ 5.8 percentage point margin of victory over Donald Trump 12 months earlier.

In the end, Spanberger was even able to overcome a scandal involving Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general, who had ranted in August 2022 text messages to a GOP colleague that the former Republican speaker of the House of Delegates deserved “two bullets to the head”.

Earle-Sears had pressed Spanberger in their Oct. 9 debate: “Abigail, when are you gonna take Jay Jones and say to him, ‘You must leave the race?’”

“He has said he wants to murder his political opponent, and not only that — his opponent’s children,” added the Republican candidate, prompting silence from Spanberger after she was asked again by one of the debate’s moderators.

“The comments that Jay Jones made are absolutely abhorrent. I denounced them when I learned of them,” the Democrat finally said, before appearing to remove Jones’ name from her campaign bus in the final days of the face.

Spanberger also refused to answer questions about whether she supported biological men participating in women’s sports or using sex-segregated spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms, an issue that handed Youngkin, Earle-Sears and AG Jason Miyares a GOP trifecta four years ago.

The shoe will likely be on the other foot in January, with Democrats favored to take all three statewide offices and expand their majority in Virginia the House of Delegates.