INTERNAL MEMO
FROM: CHRIS SLOAN, POLITICAL DIRECTOR
TO: John
Re: New Jersey and Virginia

We’re officially entering the home stretch of the 2025 elections. Our two governors’ races this year, New Jersey and Virginia, are both shaping up to be extremely competitive.

These key races will be the first major elections of Donald Trump’s second term, which means they’ll be bellwethers for our readiness to fight back. These are also the first governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey since Roe v. Wade was overturned, so reproductive rights are on the ballot.

NEW JERSEY: Mikie Sherrill is running against Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli. Polling shows Sherrill with a slight lead, but Republicans overperformed the polls in the last New Jersey governors’ race – with Gov. Murphy winning by only 3 points – so we can’t afford to be complacent.

VIRGINIA: This is our only chance to flip a governor’s seat this year. Abigail Spanberger is running a strong race against GOP Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. Earle-Sears has called abortion “genocide” and has previously endorsed a Virginia abortion ban. Right now, Virginia is the only state in the South without an abortion ban – so we can’t let Earle-Sears roll back reproductive freedoms.

Both of these races still hang in the balance and with Election Day rapidly approaching, we urgently need top supporters to step up now so we can finalize our strategy.