RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — As polls closed across Virginia on Tuesday, it quickly became clear it was a night of firsts: Voters overwhelmingly chose a slate of candidates who broke racial and gender barriers in contests that were among the most consequential in the nation.
Republicans in Virginia also fielded a historically diverse statewide ticket that would have set records.
The findings come as President Donald Trump has made opposition to diversity initiatives a cornerstone of his platform and dismantled federal civil rights programs that were aimed at correcting a complicated history of racial discrimination. He has justified these moves by arguing that racial and gender justice programs overcorrect past mistakes and fuel anti-American sentiment — a position shared by many conservatives across the country.
Still, the election results in Virginia — along with high-profile Democratic victories across the U.S. — call into question whether Trump’s firm positions on race, gender and gender identity resonate with voters.
Virginia’s first female governor
Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the Virginia governor’s race on Tuesday, giving Democrats a decisive victory heading into the 2026 midterm elections and making history as the first woman ever to lead the commonwealth. Her victory was decisive with about 57% of the vote.
The race would make history regardless of who came out on top: Spanberger ran against Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, marking the first time that two women were in the top field in a general gubernatorial election.
In her acceptance speech, Spanberger recalled her husband telling their three daughters, “Your mother is going to be governor of Virginia.”
“And I can guarantee you that these words have never been spoken in Virginia before,” she said, beaming.
Spanberger said her victory means Virginians chose “pragmatism over partisanship” and “leadership focused on problem-solving rather than fomenting division.”
First Muslim woman elected nationwide
Democrat Ghazala Hashmi defeated Republican John Reid in the race for lieutenant governor, becoming the first Indian-American woman to win statewide office in Virginia. She is also the first Muslim woman to be elected statewide in the United States
Firsts are nothing novel for Hashmi. She was the first Muslim woman elected to the Virginia Senate five years ago. Hashmi, an Indian-born former English professor, said at the time that her opposition to Trump’s Muslim ban motivated her to enter politics.
This time, her campaign for lieutenant governor focused less on her identity and more on key issues like health and education. Still, some said her identity was a major factor in the race. Reid recently took to social media to link Hashmi to Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim elected mayor of New York City, despite significant differences in their manifestos, nationalities and age groups – a comparison critics called Islamophobic.
Like the governor’s race, the lieutenant governor’s race would have been historic in any case: Reid was the first openly gay man nominated for statewide office in Virginia, and he faced hurdles related to his sexuality along the way. GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin urged him to leave the ticket after opposition research linked him to a social media account with sexually explicit photos of men. At the time, Reid said he felt betrayed.
In her victory speech, Hashmi said her candidacy reflected progress in the state and the nation.
“My own journey – from landing a young child at the airport in Savannah, Georgia, to becoming the first Muslim woman to win statewide office in Virginia and across the country – is only possible because of the depth and breadth of opportunity available in this country and this community.”
Son of civil rights pioneers becomes attorney general
Democrat Jay Jones defeated incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares to become the first Black elected as the top prosecutor in the former capital of the Confederacy.
Jones, a former delegate from Virginia, comes from a long line of racial justice leaders — a fact he emphasized throughout his campaign and after his victory.
“My ancestors were slaves. My grandfather was a civil rights pioneer who defied Jim Crow,” Jones said Tuesday. “My mother, my uncles, my aunts endured segregation so that I could stand before you today.”
However, Jones’ victory is also a referendum on dissatisfaction with the government shutdown and Trump’s mass layoffs, which have hit Virginia particularly tough because of its high concentration of federal workers.
Since Democrat Jimmy Carter won the White House in 1976, every time a novel president has been elected, Virginia has elected a governor from the opposing party the following year.
Jones’ victory comes after Miyares, elected in 2021, became the first Latino to hold statewide office in Virginia.
