Spanberger’s Win Is a Win for Centrism

A year after President Donald Trump won the White House on the economy, Democrats in Virginia did the same thing, managing a clean sweep of statewide races. It was a clear rebuke of Trump’s policies and an affirmation of Democratic centrism.

Abigail Spanberger, who will become Virginia’s first female governor, hammered Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears over the economy and cast her as a MAGA Republican who was too close to Trump. A former member of the “mod squad” in Congress and former CIA officer, Spanberger, 46, also leaned into her bipartisan bona fides, airing ads featuring moderate Republicans. And Spanberger had coattails, pulling attorney general candidate Jay Jones to a narrower victory, despite the October revelation of violent text messages about a GOP official that he had sent in 2022.