The Biden Administration and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) were quite disappointed when conservative Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial race. It was a close election — Youngkin only won by roughly 2 percent — but many Democratic strategists viewed the election as a referendum on Joe Biden’s presidency and were sorry to see a Republican triumph in an important swing state.

Four years later, Virginia is having another gubernatorial race — and Donald Trump is back in the White House. This time, the nominees are former Rep. Abigail Spanberger — a centrist Democrat and ex-CIA officer — and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. And Spanberger, according to The Hill’s Julia Manchester, is determined to make the race a referendum of Trump’s policies.

“Virginia Democrats have sought to tie the state’s Republicans to Trump’s federal workforce cuts, which have had a large impact throughout the state given its proximity to Washington and large military population,” Manchester reports in an article published on August 7. “Earle-Sears and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) have, in turn, focused on job growth in Virginia’s private sector during the Youngkin Administration.”

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In an attack ad, Spanberger’s campaign declares that Earle-Sears “supports Trump, not Virginians.”

So far, polls are showing Spanberger in the lead.

The Decision Desk HQ polling average finds Spanberger ahead by roughly 9 percent, and the Cook Political Report characterizes the race as “leans Democratic.”

Spanberger has a strong track record in Virginia politics. After unseating then-Rep. Dave Brat in the 2018 midterms in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, she was reelected in 2020 and 2022. But in 2024, Spanberger decided not to seek a fourth term so that she could run for governor instead.

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Virginia’s 2025 gubernatorial race is historic in that the nominees of both major parties are women. And come January 2026, the southern swing state will most likely have its first female governor.

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Read The Hill’s full article at this link.