Democrat Abigail Spanberger is projected to win the Virginia gubernatorial race and become the first female governor of the state, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.Spanberger, who served as a U.S. House representative for Virginia’s 7th District from 2019 until 2025, focused her campaign on affordable housing, health care, and groceries as prices skyrocketed. “Virginia, my focus is clear,” she said in a Facebook post last week. “As your next Governor, I’ll get to work on Day One to lower costs across the Commonwealth.”Spanberger racked up high-profile endorsements, including from former President Barack Obama.“In three days, we have a chance to elect a leader who will help build a better, stronger, brighter future for Virginia,” Obama told the crowd at a Spanberger rally in the Hampton Roads area in the days leading up to the campaign. “And Lord knows, we need that light.”Earle-Sears had the advantage of being the second-in-command in Virginia but couldn’t translate that into success. The Republican relied heavily on stale culture war messaging. The Earle-Sears campaign ran anti-trans ads that called Spanberger a “radical” and accused her of being for “they/them” — an ad that was nearly identical to one Donald Trump used against Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential elections. Polling, however, showed that Virginia voters were more concerned with the affordability of housing and health care. Earle-Sears, who once suggested the Republican Party move on from Trump, didn’t land an endorsement from the president, even though he weighed in on another Virginia race. He called for Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for state attorney general, to step aside. Jones was mired in scandal after violent text messages he sent about former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his family came to light. Spanberger led in the polls for months and was the favorite to win the election but the race had some remarkable moments, including at the sole debate between the gubernatorial candidates. Earle-Sears claimed firing an employee for their sexual orientation was not discrimination and Spanberger refused to answer Earle-Sears’ questions about Jones. Earle-Sears, a Black woman and Jamaican immigrant, has also been the target of racism. At an Arlington County school board meeting, the candidate signed up to speak out against the school system’s policies for transgender students. A demonstrator outside the venue brought a sign that read, “Hey Winsome. If trans can’t share your bathroom, then Blacks can’t share my water fountain.”Both campaigns condemned the language used in the sign.Virginia is considered a bellwether state, with its off-year elections often predicting how national elections will go. Spanberger’s victory could spell trouble for Trump and Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.As Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington told local news station WTOP, “You want the bragging rights of having a good year in Virginia in year one of a presidential term, to give you a sense of inevitability of gains during year two — the midterm congressional elections.”It was a night of firsts in Virginia. Spanberger’s historic win was accompanied by yet another broken barrier with Ghazala Hashmi, the projected winner of the lieutenant governor’s race, becoming the country’s first Muslim woman to hold statewide office.