As Republicans fumbled themselves into a possible bruising gubernatorial primary, Democrats were able to make it official with Abigail Spanberger as their nominee for governor.
“Abigail Spanberger is a true fighter for Virginia, and I’m proud to lead a party united behind her,” said State Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Richmond, who is the chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, which certified the former Northern Virginia congresswoman as the party’s gubernatorial nominee on Thursday.
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Early in the 2025 cycle, which kickstarted after the 2023 Virginia General Assembly midterms, Spanberger and Levar Stoney, then the Richmond mayor, seemed headed toward a contentious primary.
After early polling in the race showed Spanberger well out in front, Stoney decided last April to put his name into the hopper for the lieutenant governor nomination instead.
Stoney is one of six candidates certified for the June 17 LG primary – in a field that includes two sitting state senators, Ghazala Hashmi and Aaron Rouse.
Two candidates were certified for the primary for the attorney general nomination – Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor and former state delegate Jay Jones, who challenged the then-two-term attorney general, Mark Herring, for the AG nomination in the 2021 cycle.
Back to the top of the ticket, Spanberger has maintained a consistent double-digit lead in the polling one-on-one with the favorite to win the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
Earle-Sears may have a challenger for the GOP nomination. Former state senator Amanda Chase filed ballot-access petitions on Thursday, but at question is whether she will meet the required 10,000-signature threshold to qualify.
Chase has repeatedly teased an endorsement for her candidacy from none other than Donald Trump, which would certainly make things interesting, at the least, on the Republican side, if she ends up on a primary ballot.
Earle-Sears, for her part, has the backing of the party establishment, including Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who can’t run for re-election, per Virginia’s one-term rule, and Attorney General Jason Miyares, who decided against running for the gubernatorial nomination to run for a second term in the AG post.
We’ll know about the status of the Chase candidacy in the next few days – the Republican Party of Virginia has five days to rule on her ballot petitions.
Whatever happens on that side, Spanberger is the heavy favorite to win the general election in November, with her big early lead in the polls, and the rancor over the excesses of the opening three months of the second Trump term in the White House.
“Thank you to every Virginian who has shared with me their vision for our Commonwealth’s future since I launched my campaign,” Spanberger said in a statement on Thursday. “As the Democratic nominee for Governor of Virginia, I look forward to having many more meaningful conversations with all Virginians – across our communities and regardless of who they’ve cast their votes for in the past – about the issues that matter most to them.”
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Chris Graham
