VA-GOV: Republicans Fight Uphill in Virginia Race That Will Test Anger at Trump
The politics of Washington nearly always bleed across the Potomac River and into Virginia’s odd-year elections for governor, long seen as the first sign of how the country is feeling about its new president.
This year in particular, that is a big advantage for Democrats.
In Virginia, they have fully united behind a candidate they view as ideal to win a Trump-era election in a purple state: former Representative Abigail Spanberger, a onetime C.I.A. officer who has raised buckets of money and defined herself as a moderate willing to buck her party’s leadership.
She is widely seen as the favorite against Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a socially conservative Republican who has struggled to remain competitive financially in the early months of the race. Ms. Spanberger had $14.3 million on hand as of June 5, the latest campaign finance reporting date, compared with under $3 million for Ms. Earle-Sears.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/us/politics/virginia-governor-election-spanberger-earle-sears.html