By Trevor Moncure
Commonwealth Strategy Group
All eyes were on Virginia as voters went to the polls on November 4th to elect a new Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and House of Delegates. There were a plethora of unknowns and questions going into the election. Would Abigail Spanberger easily win as the polls predicted or would the extreme partisan environment make it closer than anticipated? Would some of the recent controversies around other candidates have an impact? Would the results of this election be a referendum on President Donald Trump and if so, how big of a “blue wave” would we see? One thing we knew for certain, is that regardless of the outcome, this election would be historic: Virginia was going to elect its first woman Governor.
The polls closed at 7pm and results started coming in quickly. Forget the “blue wave” – instead it was more of a “blue tsunami,” with Democrats winning bigger than anyone predicted.
Early in the evening, Abigail Spanberger (D) won an overwhelming victory and will be sworn in as the 75th Governor of Virginia on January 22, 2026. With her win, she is officially the first woman in the Commonwealth’s history to be elected to its’ highest office.
Democrats Ghazala Hashmi and Jay Jones also captured decisive wins in the Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General races, respectively. Many political pundits were surprised that the Attorney General race was not as close as they thought it would be and it appears the recent text message scandal had little to no impact.
In the House of Delegates races, Democrats successfully picked up 13 House seats, going from a slight majority (51-49) to an overwhelming super majority of 64 seats. In addition, 4 new Republicans were elected in open seats.
Another exciting update is that we will have a physician in the House of Delegates! Dr. Mark Downey, a pediatrician in Williamsburg, defeated Republican incumbent Chad Green. This is a big win for the House of Medicine.
We will head into the 2026 General Assembly Session with 17 new Delegates, a new Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General, and the Democrats controlling the Executive Branch, Senate, and House of Delegates.
