Virginia governor candidates 2025: Who’s running this November

RICHMOND, Va. — With the primary election results in, Virginia’s 2025 gubernatorial candidates are set.

Virginia is one of a handful of states with elections held in odd-numbered years. One of those races is for Virginia governor, which has been held by Republican Glenn Youngkin since 2022. Since he is limited to one term, the office is up for grabs next year.

The lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates will also be on the ballot on November 4, 2025.

U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger is set to lead the Democratic ticket alongside lieutenant governor candidate Ghazala Hashmi and attorney general candidate Jay Jones.

Current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears will lead the Republican ticket alongside lieutenant governor candidate John Reid and incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares.

Here’s a look at the candidates:

Democratic congresswoman Abigail Spanberger announced in November 2023 that she would run for Virginia governor in the 2025 election, foregoing reelection for a fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Formerly a CIA officer, Spanberger was elected to the House in 2018, where she built a reputation for bipartisanship and moderate stances on several issues. She represents Virginia’s competitive 7th Congressional District, comprised of Prince William County, Stafford County and Spotsylvania County, among other localities.

Spanberger has garnered a list of high-profile endorsements in her gubernatorial campaign, including former Gov. Ralph Northam, U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, and several members of the Virginia General Assembly, according to her campaign website.

As of June 18, Spanberger raised more than $22.8 million for her campaign, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

Second-term state senator Ghazala Hashmi won the June 17 Democratic primary in a tight race that included former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and State Senator Aaron Rouse.

In 2019, Hashmi became the first Muslim woman elected to the Virginia Senate, representing the 10th District in the Richmond region. After redistricting, she won re-election in the 2023 election for the 15th Senate District that spans the area between Richmond and Petersburg.

RELATED: Ghazala Hashmi wins Democratic primary for Virginia lieutenant governor

Before her time in office, she worked as a professor at Reynolds Community College. When Hashmi was four, she and her family immigrated from India to the United States, where she grew up in Georgia, according to a press release from her campaign.

The release also said Hashmi’s focus is on protecting reproductive rights and advocating for progressive values.

Democratic candidate Jay Jones won June’s Democratic primary against Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor.

Jones said his highest priority as attorney general will be “the safety and freedom of Virginia families.” Jones also claimed the current attorney general, Jason Miyares, “used his office to advance his own radical ideological agenda, not protect Virginians.”

RELATED: Jay Jones wins Democratic primary for Virginia Attorney General, will face Miyares in November

Jones was first elected to represent the 89th District in 2017. In 2021, he ran an unsuccessful primary against then-Attorney General Mark Herring. Herring later lost the general election to Republican Jason Miyares, in a year when Republicans took control of both the House of Delegates and Virginia’s top three statewide positions.

At a rally in Virginia Beach in September 2024, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears announced she’s running for governor.

According to her official website, Earle-Sears was the first Republican in Virginia since 1865 to be elected to a majority Black House of Delegates district in 2002.

She is also the first female lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the first Black female elected statewide, the first naturalized female elected to statewide office, and the first female Veteran to be elected to statewide office.

Currently, all three of Virginia’s statewide state government offices — governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general — are held by Republicans and will be on the ballot next year. Gov. Glenn Youngkin, like all Virginia governors, is prohibited from seeking a second consecutive term.

Earle-Sears was the first Republican to announce a candidacy for Virginia’s 2025 gubernatorial race. As of June 18, she’s raised $9.1 million.

John Reid, a radio host and founder of The Virginia Council, is running for lieutenant governor in 2025.

He previously served as a vice chair on the executive board of the Henrico GOP Committee. Reid served as the director of editorial communications for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and was senate communications director for U.S. Senator George Allen of Virginia during the Senator’s time on the Foreign Relations Committee.

His website states that Virginia education should be free from “leftist indoctrination.” He is also dedicated to enforcing immigration laws, limiting abortion rights, lowering taxes and bringing more jobs to the commonwealth.

Reid is the first openly gay man to be a statewide nominee in Virginia. 

During his campaign, Reid claimed Gov. Youngkin called him and asked him to drop out of the race due to rumors involving explicit photos. Reid said the account was a fabrication and made clear he was staying in the race. Days later, he accused Youngkin’s team of extortion.

You can read more about his campaign here.

RELATED: From Trump’s first 100 days to statewide races, UVA’s Larry Sabato talks all things Virginia politics

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced that he is running for reelection on Nov. 18, stating “As Attorney General, I’ve deployed every tool available to keep Virginians safe and violent criminals off our streets… We are not going back to the failed policies of the past; our families’ safety and Virginia’s future depends on it.”

RELATED: Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares will seek reelection, quelling talk of a gubernatorial bid

Miyares was first elected as attorney general in 2021 after serving as a local attorney and member of the House of Delegates from Virginia Beach. He defeated two-term Democrat Mark Herring and quickly fashioned what had been a liberal office into a conservative enterprise.

Miyares is the first Hispanic person to be elected to a statewide office in Virginia.

He created an election integrity unit and successfully defended the state in removing people accused of being noncitizens from voter rolls less than three months before the November presidential election.