In our first look at the 2025 Virginia Governor’s race last month, the key off-year contest looked all but settled as a two-way contest between former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
But some developments over the holiday break have thrown some uncertainty into that prediction of a glide path to the commonwealth’s first woman vs. woman race for governor.
We did note in our December story that there was some growing unrest among the state’s Black leaders toward Spanberger, a moderate member of Congress who didn’t run again in 2024 in order to devote her full attention to the contest for governor.
Punchbowl News then reported that Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott, the dean of the state’s congressional delegation, is still mulling a primary, citing concerns about Spanberger’s ability to motivate Black voters against Earle-Sears, a Jamaican immigrant. The Washington Post reported Scott has the tacit encouragement of state Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, who has had a fraught relationship with Spanberger.
Lucas had initially supported Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who is Black, for the
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