Women Now Have More Representation in Virginia Government. Now What?

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia became the 33rd state to elect a female governor, but the recent race was a rare instance where the two candidates were both women, just the 11th time in the U.S. since 1986.

Virginia democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger walks onto the stage at Chartway Arena in Norfolk on Nov. 1, 2025, for a campaign rally featuring former U.S. President Barack Obama. Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods / Virginia Mercury

Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger will be inaugurated in January after a decisive victory that was declared by the Associated Press within an hour of the polls closing. The lieutenant governor’s race also made history on at least two fronts: for the first time in Virginia, a woman succeeded another woman in the position, and the first Muslim woman in the U.S. was elected to a statewide seat.

The election also increased women’s representation in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Forty-two women were elected to House seats, which surpassed the current record of 34, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Four Democratic women replaced a Republican male incumbent in districts that lean Republican.

Democrats sweep Virginia’s statewide races, reclaiming full control of executive branch

While more women now hold office, they still continue to fight against double standards and additional scrutiny that their male counterparts do not face, according to experts who study women and politics.

The increase in female leadership reflects a few things, according to Hollie Mann, an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Why more representation?

A huge influx of female candidates at all levels of government ran for office after Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid in 2016, according to Mann. More women are also being encouraged to run for office by national issues such as a rollback on reproductive freedom, education concerns, and rising gun violence.

Spanberger and her opponent, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, were not the first women to run for the governor’s office in Virginia.

Virginia had two very close opportunities to have a woman as governor before, according to J. Miles Coleman, media relations coordinator at The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Emily Couric, sister of journalist Katie Couric, was a former state senator representing the Charlottesville area and former chair of the Virginia Democratic Party. She planned to run for lieutenant governor alongside Mark Warner in 2001, but dropped out of the race after a diagnosis of metastatic pancreatic cancer. She died in October of that same year.

“I could have easily seen her becoming governor at some point,” Coleman said.

Before Couric, two-term Attorney General Mary Sue Terry ran in 1993 as the Democratic nominee for governor. In the same year, Democratic president Bill Clinton had a very low approval rating, and federal issues can impact state elections, according to Coleman.

Terry had a more masculine appearance, and there were rumors surrounding her sexuality that could also explain her loss, according to Mann.

Regardless of why Terry lost, it took over 30 years to have another woman on the ballot, although U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan ran in 2021 but lost the primary to former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Spanberger, in her victory speech, thanked the women who came before her, and “Mary Sue Terry in particular.”

Governance and gender

Voters hold women to different standards the higher they climb politically, according to Mann. The expectations change for positions such as governor, attorney general and congresswoman, compared to city council or school board seats.

“They have to walk a finer line between conforming to our standards with respect to gender and conforming to our standards and expectations with respect to leadership, which are often at odds,” Mann said.

Both gubernatorial candidates leaned into their previous service records as a way to show their toughness. Earle-Sears, a Marine veteran, posed with an assault-style rifle during her campaign for lieutenant governor. Spanberger, the first former CIA officer to be elected as governor, was able to highlight her service record while assuring supporters she would sign gun safety measures.

A majority of people report that the gender of a government leader is irrelevant, according to the Pew Research Center. However, of people who do acknowledge gender differences, 39% said a woman would be better at working out compromises, and 37% said a woman would be better at maintaining a respectful tone in politics.

Women tend to have a relational style of politics that is less combative and antagonistic than their male counterparts, according to Mann.

“This is true for both Republican and Democratic senators and congresswomen and governors,” Mann said. “They tend to, not always, certainly not always, govern in a more cooperative fashion.”

Spanberger served as a congresswoman from 2019 to 2025, becoming the first Democrat to win Virginia’s 7th District in nearly 50 years. She was ranked the most bipartisan Virginia member of Congress in 2024.

Traits like assertiveness and leadership have historically been more associated with men than women, according to Kelly Dittmar, the director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics. A female candidate has to prove she can meet those stereotypically masculine credentials in a way that men likely do not have to do.

But gendered expectations among women can differ even by race, according to Dittmar.

“So Black women are going to be evaluated differently than Latinas, who are going to be evaluated differently depending on if they’re Republicans or Democrats,” Dittmar said.

Historically, people have questioned women’s expertise in defense and national security issues, according to Dittmar. These issues were assumed to be an area of male strength. Spanberger leaned into her domestic and international counter-terrorism service record on the campaign trail.

On the flip side, women are expected to show compassion and empathy, Dittmar said. That can give them an advantage, because they do not have to work as hard to project those traits as a man might.

When women have more presence in local, state, and federal government, they bring new perspectives to policymaking, according to Dittmar. Women will hold 40% of seats in Virginia’s 140-seat state legislature in 2026, making it more representative than Congress.

Women also often bring other marginalized voices into political conversations, Dittmar said.

“It does actually make a difference that young girls see women in positions of leadership,” Dittmar said. “But not even just young girls — boys, men, and women see a woman in this high-level executive decision-making position and hopefully see her doing it well.”

Voters at polling places throughout Central Virginia had reactions that ranged from Virginia was long overdue for a female governor, to “sex does not mean anything.”

Henrico County voter Kevin Cutro was excited to choose between two female gubernatorial candidates, especially since he has a daughter.

Emily Breeden thought it was “awesome” to have an election between two women, even though she strongly disagreed with one candidate.

“It’s so nice to know that no matter what happens … that there’s going to be a woman in office,” Breeden said.

Capital News Service reporter Carson Nealy contributed to this article. 

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.