Democratic state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi will be Virginia’s next Lieutenant Governor, replacing incumbent Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, who lost her own bid Tuesday for Governor.
Hashmi’s victory over Republican talk radio host John Reid puts a cherry on top for Democrats after former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger also won her race Tuesday for Governor, replacing term-limited incumbent Republican Glenn Youngkin.
Hashmi earned more than 55% of the vote over Reid, according to unofficial vote tallies.
While her performance is a potential signal to Democrats that the electorate is souring, at least for now, on Republican politics, Hashmi’s win could also have been helped along by early controversy facing Reid’s campaign. Reports surfaced early about allegations Reid was behind a social media account containing sexually explicit photos. Youngkin at the time called on him to drop out of the race, but Reid has consistently denied any involvement with the account.
But while some polls showed Hashmi with a big advantage — a State Navigate poll conducted Oct. 26-28 showed Hashmi with a 12-point lead, while an Atlas Intel poll taken Oct. 25-30 showed a more modest 6-point advantage — an Echelon Insights poll conducted Oct. 28-31 put Hashmi at just a 3-point lead, within the poll’s margin of error.
Still, Virginia’s statewide elections are often looked at as a major bellwether ahead of Midterm Elections. As a swing state, Virginia can be a key indicator of voter sentiment heading into the Midterm cycle.
That was the case four years ago, when Youngkin and Earle-Sears were elected. While it didn’t signal the massive red wave Republicans had been hoping for in 2022 — Democrats overperformed in most states and maintained their narrow control at the time of the U.S. Senate — the GOP did manage to secure control of the U.S. House, albeit by a narrow margin that remains today.
This year, Democrats are hoping to capitalize on discontent with Trump’s brand of politics, pain from federal job cuts that disproportionately affect Virginia due to its proximity to Washington, and ongoing concern over the government shutdown, which on Wednesday will become the longest in U.S. history.
Also on the ballot Tuesday night was the race for Attorney General.
Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares lost his job, falling to Democratic challenger Jay Jones.
Jones’ victory came despite recent scandal.
Jones has been facing backlash nationwide from GOP officials, electeds and supporters over text messages he sent three years ago to a then-colleague romanticizing shooting then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert.
