Former Democratic Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger comfortably defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to become Virginia’s next governor on Tuesday
Former Democratic Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger comfortably defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to become Virginia’s next governor on Tuesday evening, multiple outlets projected.
NBC News called the race for Spanberger just before 8:00 p.m. ET with about 30% of the vote in. At the time of the call, Spanberger had 54.3% of the vote compared with Earle-Sears’ 45.5%, according to NBC News.
Spanberger consistently led Earle-Sears in polling and fundraising throughout the race. Virtually every public survey projected Spanberger’s romp over Earle-Sears with the Democratic nominee heading into election day with a 10.2-point advantage, according to the RealClearPolitics’ average.
Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who won a major upset in 2021, was barred by Virginia law from running for a consecutive term.
Earle-Sears largely centered her campaign on criticizing Spanberger’s record on transgender issues in K-12 education. The Republican candidate also ripped Spanberger during the final stretch of the race for failing to distance herself from Jay Jones, the Democratic attorney general nominee, who sent violent text messages fantasizing about murdering a political opponent in 2o22.
Earle-Sears never received a formal endorsement from President Donald Trump despite frequently defending his record when responding to Spanberger’s attacks.
