Virginia held its statewide general elections Tuesday, including the race for governor as well as contests for seats in the House of Delegates. Democrats swept the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general elections, allowing them to reclaim executive power in Virginia. With Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger elected as governor, students on Grounds are now reflecting on how the results could shape state policy — including issues directly affecting the University.
Along with Spanberger, Democratic candidates Ghazala Hashmi and Jay Jones were also elected to the lieutenant governor and attorney general positions, respectively. In the House of Delegates districts 54 and 55, Democrat Dels. Katrina Callsen and Amy Laufer were elected after running unopposed.
In the City of Charlottesville, Spanberger won 89 percent of the vote to Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ 11 percent, according to the Associated Press. Also in the surrounding Albemarle County, Spanberger led with 70 percent of the vote to Earle-Sears’ 30 percent.
Students broadly expressed content with Spanberger’s win. Second-year College student Mary Lord said she sees the results as a chance for Democrats to regain political momentum.
“I'm really hopeful for what the 2026 midterms look like, and I just hope that the Democrats can keep up the steam that they've had in this minority election,” Lord said.
Second-year College student Natalie Cook expressed excitement and noted that Spanberger was voted one of the most bipartisan House members in 2021.
“I think this will have a really good impact on politics in Virginia because Abigail Spanberger is known to be one of the most bipartisan politicians,” Cook said. “That's really comforting to me, to know that someone who's pursuing conversation and bipartisanship and cooperation and agreement and love, is in power.”
Second-year College student Jackson DeHaven said that he was looking forward to seeing how a moderate Democrat might impact the University and Virginia at large.
“Spanberger winning is really good just because, even as somebody who doesn't consider themselves a Democrat … I want both parties to be healthy,” DeHaven said. “I think the Democrats have been a little bit all over the place this last year in terms of how they're defining themselves, and I think choosing to be moderate is going to be a lot more successful for them and better for the country.”
Many students also said they were watching how the election may affect the Board of Visitors, which is appointed entirely by the governor and approved by the General Assembly. Under Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, appointments shifted the Board ideologically to the right, sparking debates over academic independence, University governance and administrative priorities. DeHaven hopes that the University can take this opportunity and move more towards the center.
“I'm happy that Spanberger won in terms of U.Va. stuff … I think it's probably good to have less conflict between the University and the Board of Visitors, generally,” DeHaven said. “But, I do think I would like to see the University move a little bit more to the center, and hopefully Spanberger can be a part of that.”
Schmitt thinks it will be good to have a governor who is not in the same party as the executive power in the federal government and believes this win could make the Board less skewed to the right.
“I think it's rather good that there's going to be someone who runs the state who's going to be standing up to the federal government and the federal government's decisions,” Schmitt said. “So to have someone who's willing to defend against, especially a public institution, I think that's a great thing to have.”
Spanberger will now have the authority to appoint new members as current terms expire. Second-year College student Izzy Mitchell attended one of Spanberger’s rallies in the fall where Spanberger put an emphasis on education and academic independence. After the fall out with the Trump administration and concerns over academic independence, Mitchell thinks that these points are particularly poignant.
“[Spanberger] is very much focused on actual practical results, rather than preaching ideology or speaking on these ideological lines. She's very much like, I want to see people's lives get better,” Mitchell said.
Some students said the Republican campaigns were not run as well as they could have been. DeHaven, who met both candidates in the lead-up to the election, said Earle-Sears was not portrayed in the media as positively as she came off in-person. He felt that Earle-Sears did not do well in a recent debate with Spanberger, during which the Republican candidate repeatedly interrupted Spanberger’s responses.
“I think [Sears is] a lot funnier than she gets credit for in the media, and to me, it was hard watching that debate,” DeHaven said. “She is, I think, a much smarter and more thoughtful person than [she] really came off.”
Similarly, third-year College student Santiago Schmitt also did not think the Virginia race for governor was as interesting of a race to follow because of a lack of excitement on the Republican side. Without even looking at the polling and more based on his conversations with friends, he felt that he knew Spanberger was going to win.
“Looking at friends who were Republican who were saying Spanberger is the better candidate, and when you know, people saying that, and you tend to realize, okay, well, if even Republicans are leaning that way,” Schmitt said.
Cook said her sense of the race may have been shaped by the political environment on Grounds. She said she frequently saw efforts supporting Spanberger but did not observe comparable visibility for Republican candidate Earle-Sears.
“I didn't see a single table for Earle-Sears. I didn't see a single moment of advocacy for her throughout the entire race. So in my mind, it was clear to me that Spanberger was gonna win,” Cook said.
Some students followed the race more closely than others. Mitchell and Cook were both in PLAP 3370 “Workshop in Contemporary American Electoral Politics,” taught by The Center for Politics Associate Director Kenneth Stroupe and Director Larry Sabato. Through this class, they were more aware of the races taking place, learning from guest speakers and rallies on Grounds.
While both Mitchell and Cook said they did not want to be too “optimistic” in their predictions, Spanberger winning the gubernatorial election was not surprising to either of them — she led in all preelection polls. Mitchell referenced what is sometimes called the “Virginia Curse,” in which the party holding the U.S. presidency typically loses the following year’s gubernatorial election, as one plausible factor which played into Spanberger’s success.
Mitchell also noted that effects from the federal government have particularly impacted Virginia, which is home to approximately 144,295 federal workers who faced job cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year and the government shutdown which began in October.
“I think that has been even more accentuated this time around because of Trump’s DOGE cuts and the government shutdown, and so much of Virginia's economy is based on federal workers,” Mitchell said. “I wasn't surprised that there's this retaliatory vote towards Abigail Spanberger, or towards the Democratic Party against Trump.”
For some students, this race made them realize the importance of Virginia politics, even if they are out-of-state students. Second-year College student Duncan White said that being from Illinois made him feel less invested in the race, though he recognizes its implications for the state he currently lives in. He added that he hopes to become more engaged in Virginia politics in the future.
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