Republicans tried to make Virginia's elections all about trans people. They lost everything.https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/11/republicans-tried-to-make-virginias-elections-all-about-trans-people-they-lost-everything/ 🔗Alex Bollinger (5 Nov 2025)
Democrats swept Virginia's off-year elections yesterday after Republican candidates tried to make transgender rights a central issue in the election cycle, leading some advocates to say that transgender issues have lost their ability to get Republican votes.
Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) won the election for governor over Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R), a Christian conservative who ran multiple ads attacking Spanberger for her support of equal rights for transgender people. With 95% of the votes counted, Spanberger has 57.2% of the vote, well ahead of Earle-Sears' 42.6%, according to CNN.
Earlier this year, Earle-Sears' campaign released ads that raised the issue of transgender equality to attack Spanberger. One of the ads ended with a slogan reminiscent of the 2024 presidential campaign, saying that Spanberger is "for they/them, not for us."
Democrats picked up 13 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. In the previous session, Democrats had a narrow 51-49 majority in the lower chamber, and now they'll have at least 64 seats. One race has not yet been called, according to CBS 19 News.
LGBTQ+ advocates hailed the results.
"Tonight, voters put the people first," said HRC President Kelley Robinson. "Less than one year into the Trump-Vance Administration, they chose pro-equality candidates and rejected hollow campaigns of fear-mongering. Voters weren't fooled by millions of dollars in cruel, transphobic ads and sent a message that they want real leadership that delivers results for their lives and livelihoods, not tired hate, division, and chaos."
