Voters look into the 2025 gubernatorial race

Selna Shi, News Editor

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-VA, launched her bid for the 2025 gubernatorial election in a video on X, formerly known as Twitter on Nov. 13. Spanberger currently serves as the representative for Virginia’s 7th congressional district. 

Spanberger made the announcement a week after the Democratic party won a majority in both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly. Spanberger is currently the only candidate to officially announce a run for the governorship.

“The November 2023 elections demonstrated that they [Virginians] want elected officials who will protect their fundamental rights – including the right to choose,” Spanberger stated in an email. “They want strong schools and universities. And they want a government that is more accountable to the people.”

Former governor Ralph Northam endorsed Spanberger a day after she announced her bid. 

“In Congress, I’ve led a team that has built a track record of making progress on some of the most pressing challenges facing our Commonwealth,” Spanberger stated. “I have worked to help our neighbors struggling with addiction, lower prescription drug costs, provide resources to Virginia’s Veterans, and make smart investments in Virginia’s physical infrastructure.”

Spanberger, a centrist Democrat, stated she has built a reputation for working with both parties and breaking from her own party sometimes. She built headlines in 2022 when she called for former House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, to step down for mishandling legislation that would ban Congress members from trading stocks. 

Spanberger has not started on her campaign trail yet, she stated.

“This is the place where I grew up, where I am raising my own family, and where I intend to build a stronger future for the next generation of Virginians,” Spanberger said. “I look forward to meeting many VCU students along the campaign trail as 2025 approaches.”

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney has not officially announced his bid for the governorship yet, but “will make an announcement on his political future by the end of the year,” according to Keith Zeithaml, a spokesperson for Stoney.

Politico reported that Stoney has begun assembling a campaign team.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin cannot seek reelection as Virginia governors can only serve one four-year term, according to LIS. Virginia is the only state in the country that bars its governors from seeking consecutive terms. 

No Republican candidates have announced their bid for the governorship, however, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares are widely seen as contenders for the next gubernatorial race, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. 

Ellie Lafon, Virginia Tech student who born and raised in southwest Virginia, said she’s hoping to see the next governor care for all of Virginia and not just Northern Virginia.

“Virginia needs a governor who is dedicated to all of Virginia, not just NOVA, not trying to get close to DC, not trying to become a senator or president,” Lafon said. “Someone who will secure our rights and care about our state issues.”

Addressing unequal wealth distribution in schools is also a stance Lafon is looking for in a candidate, she said.

“I know it comes down to tax brackets, but I feel that the excess of wealth in places like Loudoun county, where they are buying the students iPads while some schools in places like Danville are struggling to buy their students up-to-date books and essential school supplies,” Lafon said.

Loudoun County is ranked the richest county in the United States, followed by Fairfax County, according to Forbes. 

Lafon said the next governor should care more about protecting the environment. In the area Lafon grew up in, the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline project plans to build 303 miles of natural gas pipeline, from southwest Virginia to northern West Virginia. 

The project has sparked grassroots movements by residents in the Appalachian mountains since 2014 to protect the mountains and the natural resources.

Charlottesville resident and VCU history student Cindy Buezo Sanchez shared similar feelings with Lafon saying she hopes the next governor will continue the protection of abortion rights. Sanchez also said she hopes protecting public education is also on the priority list of the next governor.

“I want to be an educator, so I think we need to be careful with moving towards censorship in our state and like others such as Florida,” Sanchez said. “It’s extremely disconcerting and a little scary to pick out books that students can’t access or read despite having a connection to their identity and culture.”

Sanchez said she dislikes Youngkin and his policies on critical race theory and that he is not a “fair representation” of the state.

Spanberger was the representative for Sanchez’s district before Sanchez moved to Louisa County. Sanchez said she appreciated Spanberger’s effort to expand broadband access during the pandemic but Spanberger “did not represent” her community. 

“I would not like a former CIA agent as our governor and I also do not think she aligns too much with the Democrat party and she is too centrist, leaning too much towards the right at times,” she said.

Sanchez said she’s hoping there will be a movement that will mobilize a third-party candidate and that “we are way past the two-party system.”

“We are not a monolith and our government has the ability to adequately address our needs in the various regions,” Sanchez said. “We all have issues we feel strongly about, but transportation needs improvement, specifically in the area of railway systems. D.C. is not the only desired destination in the state, we need to be able to connect to Richmond, the very capital of our state. It feels less prioritized than all of NOVA.”

Editor’s Note: A student interview in a previous version has been removed.