Virginia Will Elect its First Woman Governor

Primary elections were held yesterday in Virginia. Full results for women in these races are available on this post on our Election Analysis page; there is one undecided race featuring a woman candidate. The full results post will update when this contest is decided.

Among the most notable results for women:

• Current Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R) and former U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger (D) are nominees in an all-woman gubernatorial contest in Virginia this year. 

  • Either would both be the first woman governor of Virginia.

  • Earle-Sears, if successful, would be the first Black woman governor in American history.

  • Virginia is one of 18 states that has never had a woman governor. The others are California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

  • There are two gubernatorial elections in 2025, in New Jersey and Virginia. If women are successful in both states, the number of women governors could reach 14 by January 2026, matching the record high set briefly in January 2025.

• The sole woman candidate for attorney general was unsuccessful, but state Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D) is in a race for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor that remains too close to call. If Hashmi is successful, she could become both the first Democratic woman and first Asian American/Pacific Islander woman to serve as Virginia’s lieutenant governor. 

• Women are 70 of 169 (41.4%) major-party nominees already selected for the House of Delegates in Virginia, including 56 of 99 (56.6%) Democrats and 14 of 70 (20%) Republicans. This is not a record high.

• All 34 (27D, 7R) current women House incumbents are nominees for re-election in November 2025. All ran for re-election and zero lost their bid.

For more information, see the full analysis of how women fared in yesterday's contests on our Election Analysis page. Complete context about women in the 2025 elections can be found on CAWP's Election Watch.