On Nov. 4, 2025, Abigail Spanberger took the victory for Virginia governor, capturing 57.5% of the swing state’s votes. This marked a shockingly large margin for the state, especially coming out of Republican Glenn Youngkin’s term. While Spanberger’s win is a surprise to many, the policies behind it may explain why it happened. . 

Plan for Virginia Schools

Among Spanberger’s most assertive plans for Virginia was her plan for public education. Her proposed Strengthening Virginia Schools Plan suggested modernizing Standards of Learning exams (SOLs), enforcing student safety plans and increasing disability support. This plan, first announced in early August, quickly became popular, possibly due to the drop in most SOL advanced pass rates throughout Youngkin’s term. 

(caption: Virginia SOL percent changes between the beginning and end of Youngkin’s governor term.)

Additionally, the plan reinforced commitment to improving infrastructure in rural and traditionally financially disadvantaged Virginia, which drove up her popularity in previously highly Republican areas. 

Housing Infrastructure

Another plan that captured the hearts of disadvantaged Virginians was Spanberger’s Affordable Virginia Plan. This plan focused on economic development in the state through increasing housing infrastructure, addressing homelessness and avoiding a ‘one size fits all’ approach to regional housing issues. After Trump’s recent pressure on homebuilders to build more despite rising costs, many voters found the stability the plan promised appealing. 37% of Virginia voters identified  housing as their top  concern, which drove many to vote for Spanberger because of  the improvements she outlined in the Affordable Virginia Plan. With the increasing costs of housing, the guarantee of an affordable home became much more attractive to Virginia voters. 

Healthcare Approach

Another aspect of Spanberger’s Affordable Virginia Plan was increasing the affordability and transparency of healthcare. After the major cuts Trump made to Medicaid, and other federal health benefits, many patients and clinics alike faced significant  hits. Given  that over 1.5 million Virginians are enrolled in Medicaid, these cuts have significantly affected the state. 

Beyond funding to make healthcare more affordable, Spanberger intends to increase hospital transparency by creating a system to compare procedures and pharmaceutical costs across  locations. Furthermore, to address rural Virginia, she intends to implement a ‘safety net’ system that includes free clinics and community health centers. Since most of Virginia is rural, these promised changes likely were appealing to that demographic of voters.

Energy Policy

The last major highlight of Spanberger’s campaign strategy was her plan to increase clean energy usage. Instead of focusing on the clean energy aspect, however, she directed her campaign towards emphasizing that it would lower bills for many Virginians. This likely made her plans more digestible to many Virginia Republicans who might  otherwise oppose this idea. On the opposite side, it remained popular among urban residents, who consistently demonstrate support for clean energy plans. 

With all of these large aspects of Spanberger’s campaign strategy, as well as her centrist approach, she was able to take the victory in Virginia to become the first female governor.