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It feels like every year we say the same thing: this is the most consequential election of our lives. But this time, the weight feels heavier. With an authoritarian-style power grab unfolding in Washington, this election will be the first real test of Democratic strength during the second Trump presidency.
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Virginia has always been a political bellwether, but this moment feels different.
Tomorrow, we will make history one way or another. For the first time in 237 years, Virginia will elect a woman as Governor. In the Lieutenant Governor’s race, we’ll either elect the first Muslim and first AAPI woman to statewide office—or the first openly gay person to statewide office. In the Attorney General’s race, we could elect the first Black Attorney General in our Commonwealth’s history or re-elect our first Latino Attorney General.
And with a stronger House majority, we’ll have the chance to enshrine abortion rights and marriage equality into the Constitution—and to draw fair maps that counteract the gerrymandering pushed by red states under pressure from Washington.
Whoever wins tomorrow will make history. But God, I pray we don’t have to sit through another round of Republican smugness like we’ve endured for the past four years since they elected the first Black woman to office statewide and the first Latino to office statewide.
Four years ago, Republicans convinced themselves that Virginia was in play after Youngkin’s 2021 win. But year after year, Democrats have proved them wrong—defending House seats in the 2022 midterms, flipping the House of Delegates back to blue, electing our first Black Speaker in 2023, and delivering Virginia for our Democratic presidential nominee in 2024. Tomorrow, we have a chance to complete the cycle and put to rest the notion that Virginia is anything but a blue state.
We have an outstanding candidate in Abigail Spanberger, who proved why she cleared the field in the gubernatorial primary. She’s kept affordability front and center while her opponent—and too often the press—try to make this election about trans students in bathrooms, just like how Glenn Youngkin used the threat of Critical Race Theory in 2021 and we never heard it again. Only 27% of Virginians see transgender related issues as “very important,” and 23% say it’s “somewhat important.”
Spanberger’s campaign has done what Democrats failed to do in 2021: go everywhere. She’s toured every region of the Commonwealth—twice—including deep Southwest Virginia, showing that she’ll be a governor for every Virginian, not just those in the Urban Crescent. The energy at her stops has been palpable.
She talks about the issues that actually matter: the economy, education, and empathy for your neighbors. She meets voters where they are. She speaks their language, even holding a fully Spanish-language town hall with Latinos for Spanberger.
Spanberger is showing that as Virginia is facing economic challenges under Republican leadership, Democrats will come in and be able to right the ship. And in the time of a government shutdown and chaos on Capitol Hill, Abigail Spanberger is the exact leader we need to protect Virginians and make our commonwealth thrive.
Virginians have been hit hard under this presidency. Hundreds of thousands lost their jobs after Elon Musk and DOGE took a chainsaw to the federal government—hurting not only federal workers but also the contractors who keep our economy running. During our last Democratic governorship, Virginia was the top state for business. Now, we’re facing the highest unemployment rates in years. Yet the current governor and the Republican nominee cheer on Trump’s every move. Winsome Sears’ campaign slogan is “Let’s keep a good thing going,” but we can’t afford four more years of complicity.
Winsome Sears has relied heavily on both culture war bullshit and gaslighting voters. She’s said Virginians aren’t losing jobs or healthcare—and even if they are, “losing your job is just part of life.” Her and Youngkin’s solution for displaced workers? A webpage linking to LinkedIn and Indeed. That’s not leadership.
We especially don’t need a governor who’ll roll over for whatever Trump wants. Sears has turned into a political “pick-me,” offering loyalty while Trump repays her with a tele-townhall rally even though he makes the commutes for rounds of golf in Virginia every other week.
When you compare to the reception that Abigail Spanberger got with President Barack Obama in Norfolk over the weekend, it shows a lot about what the highest ranking members of the party think of Winsome Sears.
Sears has even mimicked Trump’s 2024 campaign playbook—focusing almost entirely on trans women in sports and trans kids in bathrooms. But unlike Trump’s ad, which weaponized a Harris-era policy quote, Spanberger hasn’t given them anything to twist. Her position is simple and mainstream: LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.
Sears, meanwhile, signed a bill declaring she’s “morally opposed to gay marriage and workplace protections.” She even said in a debate that banning gay marriage and firing someone for being gay weren’t discrimination—an awkward stance for her running mate, John Reid, who’s gay. The two barely appear together, and when they do, it’s strained.
Reid has branded himself as “the gay guy who doesn’t want to talk about being gay”—because he knows much of his own party would weaponize it. Instead, his campaign revolves around Senator Ghazala Hashmi’s refusal to debate him.
And honestly, can you blame her? Reid has leaned on Islamophobic tropes, portraying her as an “angry, elusive Muslim woman.” He and the Virginia GOP even tried tying her and New York’s Zohran Mamdani to so-called “Islamic terror cells.”
When your opponent boils you down to your faith, why should you debate someone who despises you for it.
The Washington Post recently profiled both candidates—Reid as “the gay man who wants to talk about something else,” and Hashmi as “the Muslim candidate who wants to break barriers.” And that’s accurate. Hashmi actually believes in something. She entered politics after Trump’s Muslim travel ban, determined to fight for her community. Reid, on the other hand, is a conservative sellout willing to throw LGBTQ+ people under the bus for power.
Senator Hashmi has led with compassion and conviction while in the Virginia General Assembly. She has the legislative wherewithal to be able to work within the Virginia State Senate to help pass legislation with a slim majority for the Democrats. She is incredibly well versed in the issues that are affecting Virginians, and will be a leader who looks like a large portion of our population who do not feel seen or feel continually demonized by national politics since 9/11 and now in the era of the ongoing turmoil and genocide in Gaza.
As a former educator and mother, Hashmi understands the fear parents feel as Republicans dismantle the Department of Education and strip WIC and SNAP benefits from families. She knows that sometimes, school lunches are the only reliable meals kids get. Her compassion and legislative skill make her the kind of leader we desperately need in Richmond.
Contrast that with Reid’s theatrics—like debating an AI version of Hashmi with softball questions.
And speaking of stunts and distraction: let’s talk about Jason Miyares. The Attorney General’s race should have been his to lose, but instead of touting accomplishments, he’s leaning on outrage—manufactured scandals about community service hours and text messages.
When you lean on controversy and outrage like a crutch instead of presenting the work you have already done in office as an incumbent, you have nothing. After his opinion that he offered in the face of redistricting, Jason Miyares has proven that he will just roll over for whatever Donald Trump wants him to. He has welcomed Kristi Noem and her ICE agents into Virginia to round up immigrants, both undocumented and naturalized, without even batting an eye. Though the Attorney General should be the lawyer for the people, Miyares has shown that he is only the lawyer for the people in power and special interests.
Jay Jones on the other hand is a man of honor and conviction. Just like all of us, he is human. He made mistakes in his past that he has apologized and atoned for. In one of those cases, he let his anger and frustration over the slow movement of government and hypocrisy of elected officials cloud his judgment and said something foolish to a colleague. Who hasn’t?
But I know Jay Jones. I have known Jay Jones for years now and consider him a friend. I have shared public stages and candid conversations with him and I know who he is. He is not the monster that the Right would paint him to be over one foolish conversation he had in the heat of the moment. He will lead the Attorney General’s office in the best interest of the public and will join those other Attorneys General who have sued the Trump Administration for their unlawful acts. And Lord knows we need that now more than ever.
Jones will also protect Democrats’ efforts to counteract Republican gerrymandering nationwide. We finally have leaders willing to be bold—and we need people like Jay to back them up.
But that only matters if we hold and expand our majority. This weekend, I was in Harrisonburg for Andrew Payton and in Blacksburg for Lily Franklin—and the energy is electric. Lily’s determined to flip those 183 votes she lost by in 2023, and Andrew’s smartly targeting the college vote. Students live in these districts for four years—of course they deserve a say.
We’ve got strong challengers like Kimberly Pope Adams (HD-82), Jessica Anderson (HD-71), May Nivar (HD-57), Lindsey Dougherty (HD-75), and John McAuliff (HD-30)—and we’re defending crucial incumbents like Joshua Cole (HD-65), Michael Feggans (HD-97), Nadarius Clark (HD-84), and Josh Thomas (HD-21). The path to progress runs through these races.
The real battleground isn’t Congress—it’s the state legislatures. They’re our last line of defense. With a Democratic governor and AG, Virginia can join states like California, Illinois, and Maryland in standing firm against Trump’s abuses—and if we control redistricting, we can keep Virginia blue for generations.
Beyond our borders, tomorrow is also an existential test for Democrats in places like New York and Minneapolis, where progressive candidates like Zohran Mamdani and Omar Fateh face last-minute establishment pushback. These eleventh-hour centrist pivots only expose the party’s hypocrisy.
Democrats must live up to “Blue No Matter Who” and reject Islamophobic and anti-socialist fearmongering. Leaders like Mamdani and Fateh represent the future—a movement that includes everyone, in how they look, pray, and think.
Like the proverbial red wheelbarrow, so much depends on tomorrow. It’s our chance to show that we can organize, win, and build something stronger despite the chaos in DC. To prove that America still has a conscience. To remind the world that not everyone here supports authoritarianism—and that there’s still hope.
So go out there. Knock those last packets. Make those final calls. Greet voters at the polls.
Let’s show them how it’s done.
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By the Ballot is an opinion series published on Substack. All views expressed are solely those of the author and should not be interpreted as reporting or objective journalism or attributed to any other individual or organization. I am not a journalist or reporter, nor do I claim to be one. This publication represents personal commentary, analysis, and opinion only.

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