Waynesboro, which voted three times for Trump, went blue in 2025

Waynesboro went blue in Tuesday’s elections, and for context on that, last time we saw the city vote for the Democratic Party nominee in a gubernatorial election was way back in 1985.

Last time we voted here for the Democrat running for president was 1964 – which means, Waynesboro voted for Richard Nixon, twice, for Donald Trump, three times.

Liberty University really missed out not putting a satellite campus up here.

So, when they were done tabulating last night at the registrar’s office, and the final result was – Abigail Spanberger: 52.3 percent, Winsome Earle-Sears: 47.6 percent – yes, color me shocked.

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ICYMI

• Message sent: Democrats sweep Virginia, New Jersey, New York City races on historic night
• MAGAs win in local Augusta County races: But things shifted, a bit
• Election 2025: Live coverage of statewide, House of Delegates races

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Waynesboro also gave a majority to Ghazala Hashmi in the LG race, by a 2.3-point margin, and Jay Jones, who trailed behind his two running mates in large part because of the death-texts scandal, still got 48.8 percent.

In the local House of Delegates race, the Democrat, Makayla Venable, got 51.1 percent in her race with Republican incumbent Ellen Campbell, who lives in Waynesboro.

Let that all sink in.

Now, some personal history: I ran, very much unsuccessfully, for a seat on Waynesboro City Council in 2008, banking on the influx of newcomers with jobs in the Charlottesville/Albemarle market settling in the city because of our relatively low cost of living being on my side.

Looks like I was only about 17 years too optimistic in my read on that.

Because it’s without a doubt that the continued infusion of newcomers to the city who work on the other side of the Blue Ridge is finally coming to roost here.

We’ve been making steady gains – Barack Obama got 44.1 percent in the presidential race in 2008, the first time a Democrat had cracked the 40 percent barrier since LBJ won in the city in 1964, but still, last year, Trump won Waynesboro, again, for the third time, with 52.0 percent.

For Spanberger to go from the 46.3 percent that Kamala Harris got here a year ago to 52.3 percent this year is an obvious breakthrough, and one that will now define the 2026 local cycle here in the city.

There are two City Council seats on the ballot in 2026, including the one held by the former vice mayor, Jim Wood, the guy who got Waynesboro into the national headlines a few weeks into his term, in 2023, when he got caught (by me!) referring to Pete Buttigieg, then the Transportation Secretary under President Biden, “Pete Buttplug,” the slur referencing Buttigieg’s sexual orientation.

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ICYMI

• Waynesboro vice mayor hits Buttigieg with gay slur after asking for federal money
• Waynesboro mayor rebukes Jim Wood on ‘Pete Buttplug’ slur: ‘No place in our City’
• Pete Buttigieg is aware that Waynesboro’s vice mayor called him ‘Pete Buttplug’
• Dad joke: Jim Wood thinks he’s going to run for governor?

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Wood has signaled that he might not run for a second term on City Council, suggesting, against reason, that he is mulling over a possible run for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2029 – good luck with that, buddy.

The results in the 2024 City Council elections had already replaced one outgoing Republican member with an independent, Lori Jean Akanbi, who identifies as center-left, which gave the center-left a 3-2 majority on the City Council.

The 2026 cycle is now an opportunity to give the center-left a 4-1 supermajority.

Let the vetting of candidates begin.