By Alex Yu

Given that the Commonwealth of Virginia holds elections of some variety every year, some people might not think that this year’s round of elections, held on Tuesday, Nov. 4, would be particularly noteworthy.

2025 Virginia gubernatorial election results by county. Image credit: Thomascampbell123 via Wikimedia Commons.

However, this year stood out for several historic firsts. Both the Republican and Democratic nominees for the gubernatorial election were women, and Democrat Abigail Spanberger will become the first female governor of Virginia. She won against current Lieutenant Governor and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, the second woman to hold statewide office in the United States. Senator Ghazala Hashmi of the Democratic Party defeated John Reid of the Republican Party to become Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor and the first Muslim woman to hold statewide office in US history. Lastly, Jay Jones, also a Democrat, won the race to become Attorney General of Virginia against Republican and current Attorney General Jason Miyares, despite several scandalous text messages he sent in 2022.

Abigail Spanberger. Photo credit: Ezra Deutsch-Feldman via Wikimedia Commons.

According to her campaign website, Spanberger, a former CIA agent who served in the US House of Representatives from 2019-2025 to represent Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, ran on a platform similar to many progressive politicians. Her goals included making housing in Virginia more affordable by investing, expanding educational opportunities for secondary school students, investing in clean energy, and increasing transparency to make healthcare more affordable.

Meanwhile, outgoing Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears, who had previously served in the Virginia Board of Education from 2011-2015, and as a member of Virginia’s House of Delegates for the 90th District from 2002-2004, ran on a campaign similar to other conservative politicians, vowing also to lower the cost of living by cutting taxes, prioritizing reading and math skills in education, being tougher on crime, continuing to use all forms of energy to reduce costs, and keeping biological males out of women’s sports.

Winsome Earle-Sears. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

During the gubernatorial debate on October 9, which aired on all of Nexstar Media Group’s local tv and online services, both candidates avoided directly answering questions about controversial topics, with Spanberger notably avoiding questions concerning Attorney General candidate Jones’ violent texts and about which bathrooms transgender students should be permitted to enter. Both candidates interrupted each other during questioning, with Earle-Sears committing this offense many more times than Spanberger.

In the race for the Lieutenant Governor, Senator Hashmi ran on policies similar to Spanberger, including protecting workers’ unions, increasing funding for education, increasing funding for healthcare, and supporting equal treatment for LGBTQ+ Virginians. On the same vein, candidate Reid, who has worked as a businessman and conservative media broadcaster, shared stances similar to Earle-Sears’. These included cutting taxes to improve the economy and de-regulating businesses. Reid was the first openly gay candidate to be nominated for a statewide office position.

Jay Jones. Photo credit: Adnan Masri via Wikimedia Commons.

The Attorney General race was dominated by the revelation of a series of text messages from Jones. Jones, who had served as an attorney and member of Virginia’s House of Delegates for the 89th District from 2018-2022, previously sent messages to Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner, stating “Three people two bullets … Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot … Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.” The message suggested that Jones considered former speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates Todd Gilbert to be worse than Adolf Hitler and Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, two of the most notorious leaders of the 20th century who were responsible for genocide and millions of deaths. Jones apologized for the messages, which were widely condemned by members of both parties. He also experienced many calls to drop out of the race, though as previously mentioned, none from Spanberger.

To gain more insight on the election cycle, I approached politically invested student Justinas Petkauskas (‘26,) who expressed disappointment in the gubernatorial debate. He criticized both candidates’ performance, characterizing Earle-Sears as having “disrespectful demeanor.” He also stated that Spanberger “didn’t really answer any of the questions,” and only threw out “campaign phrases and buzzwords.” In regards to Jones’ texts, Petkauskas said, “I think in an ideal world, that incident would have been disqualifying, or he would have dropped out.” Moreover, he wished that “our politics were less connected to whoever’s in office.” On the whole, however, he still believed that the election had “massive turnout” and “reflected how Virginians are feeling.”

This election was significant outside of Virginia as well. Democrats gained ground in many local races, including in major cities like Seattle, Minneapolis, Detroit, Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and New Orleans, which may signal dissatisfaction with the Republican Party and the second Trump presidency. As Petkauskas noted, this could also simply be the usual political trend of opposition party candidates—those in the party not in power; in this case, the Democrats—making headway during non-presidential election cycles. For example, in Virginia, no governor running under the same party as the sitting president has won an election since 1977, with only one exception in 2013. In New York City, self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani defeated both the Trump-endorsed independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, securing a majority of votes to become mayor. Mamdani had previously defeated Cuomo once before in the Democratic primary to become the party’s nominee.

The New York mayoral election was a topic of conversation at a Current Events Club meeting shortly after election day. Headed by co-presidents Jake Apelt (‘27) and Avi Soin (‘27,) the Current Events Club is new this year and allows all participants to discuss current events while expressing their varying points of view without interference from teachers.

Zohran Mamdani. Photo credit: Karamccurdy on Wikimedia Commons.

During the meeting, I heard students express arguments for and against Mamdani. Some believed that his ideas are “too radical” or that he is unqualified due to being a “Muslim communist.” On the other end, others supported his proposal for increased taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, with one student stating that, at a certain point, “that level of wealth is unimaginable to the average American, and you’d never be able to spend it all even if you tried.” And again, some students disagreed, with one saying that “it’s a sad reflection on society that the ultimate goal for Americans is to gain wealth, but that once you get to the top, that money you work so hard for is just being redistributed.” Interestingly enough, the conversation never seemed to concern either Cuomo or Sliwa, the other two major candidates. Despite their disagreements, one recurring theme raised by club members of all positions was that America is now more politically divided than ever.

Back in Virginia, Spanberger will be sworn in as Virginia’s 75th governor on Saturday, Jan. 17. Hashmi and Jones will precede her, taking office on the Jan. 11 and Jan. 14, respectively.