The political spotlight this year is on Virginia, which kicked off its statewide election cycle on Tuesday as voters around the state cast their ballots in primary races that determine this fall’s closely-watched battle for the top posts in Richmond.

Much of the November ballot was already set. Neither candidate for governor — Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears — faced any opposition from inside their party, as was the case for Republicans seeking to serve as lieutenant governor and attorney general.

But Virginians nonetheless set early-voting records in some closely contested primaries for those jobs and some of the 100 House of Delegates seats also on the ballot this fall.

The commonwealth’s off-year elections often draw national attention for what they might say about how voters feel about the party in the White House. With federal workforce cuts carried out by the Trump administration hitting Virginia harder than almost any other state, the contest has added resonance this year.

“The old saying that all politics is local doesn't really apply in Virginia in 2025,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington. “Even though Donald Trump's name is not on the ballot, the president will be at the center of these conversations.”

He added that the primary appeared to be largely determined by suburban women and Black voters in the Hampton Roads region — two constituencies that Democrats will need to turn out if they want to win back the governorship.

Here’s what stood out as November’s matchups came into view:

1. Expect history in November

5 takeaways from Virginia’s primary election results

Virginia was already on track to make history this year, with either Spanberger, a former congresswoman, or Earle-Sears, the current lieutenant governor, all but guaranteed to be elected as Virginia’s first female governor.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) is prohibited by the state constitution from seeking a consecutive term, and both candidates managed to clear the field — and avoid costly primary contests — in their bids to become the first Virginia official known as “Her Excellency.” But neither candidate is well-known across the state, and they have taken radically different paths in introducing themselves to voters.

Spanberger, a former national-security official, has leaned into the politically moderate platform on which she flipped a competitive congressional district in the Richmond suburbs in 2018. Although she has clashed with Democrats’ left flank at times in recent months, Spanberger, 45, has sought to build broad support as she rolls out policy proposals and tours the state.

Earle-Sears, a former state delegate whose firebrand style helped propel Youngkin to victory in 2021, has been trailing in fundraising and has yet to make an appearance with the full GOP statewide ticket. She faces strong political headwinds — the party that wins the White House often loses in Virginia the following year — but her campaign insists it’s been using nontraditional methods to connect directly with voters.

If she wins, Earle-Sears, 61, would notch another first: She would become the first Black woman governor anywhere in the country.

2. Firsts in lieutenant governor race

Ghazala F. Hashmi, left, Virginia state senator and Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, meets voters at the MAPS Global polling place in Richmond, Virginia, on June 17.

It may not just be the top of the ticket setting firsts. Tuesday’s results mean that either lieutenant governor candidate would also claim such a designation in that job, a mostly ceremonial role that presides over the State Senate and often serves as a stepping-stone to the state’s top post four years later.

State Sen. Ghazala F. Hashmi (D) declared victory in the crowded primary for lieutenant governor — with six candidates — while party leaders also sent congratulatory emails. The Associated Press had not yet called the race late Tuesday night. If Hashmi wins the primary and then again in November, she would become the commonwealth’s first South Asian and first Muslim statewide elected official.

The Republican nominee, conservative talk-radio host John Reid, would be the first openly gay person in such a role — not to mention, the first openly gay Republican in a statewide elected position nationwide.

Political analysts and party activists see the lieutenant governor as a way to add diversity to the party’s statewide ticket. In Hashmi, Democrats could benefit from stronger appeal to the state’s rapidly growing South Asian population — a group that shifted toward Trump in the fall, both nationally and in Virginia. Her victory would also mean that the party is counting on two women from the Richmond suburbs to lead its lineup.

Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, John Reid, speaks at a campaign rally at the Atlas 42 restaurant in Henrico County, Virginia, on April 30.

Reid’s selection, meanwhile, has caused plenty of Republican infighting. This spring, he triggered the state’s biggest political drama after he was accused of running a Tumblr account that reposted racy photos of other men — a charge that prompted Youngkin to ask Reid to withdraw from the race even after the candidate denied the since-deleted account was his. Conservatives have nonetheless rallied around Reid, who was communications director for former senator George Allen (R-Virginia), though Earle-Sears has not campaigned with him at all.

Few voters are expected to split their tickets, but the ensuing matchup, should Hashmi prevail, could make for the starkest difference in personalities, said Sam Shirazi, a political analyst who hosts the “Federal Fallout” podcast on Virginia elections. Hashmi, a mild-mannered former professor, presents a sharp contrast from Reid’s bolder appeals to the Republican base, he said.

3. A win for Clean Virginia

Virginia attorney general Democratic candidate Jay Jones greets a voter outside of a voting precinct at Centreville High School on primary day, June 17, in Clifton, Virginia.

The race for attorney general in its closing days became a proxy battle between Dominion, the state’s politically powerful utility company, and Clean Virginia, a millionaire-funded group that advocates for clean energy and seeks to counter Dominion’s hefty campaign contributions with large cash infusions of its own.

Jay Jones’s victory delivered a clear message: Clean Virginia won this round.

Jones, a former state delegate who previously worked for the D.C. Attorney General’s Office, drew more than $575,000 from the group. Dominion spent $800,000 — its largest-ever contribution in a single race — on his primary opponent, Shannon Taylor, including a late-in-the-game boost of $150,000 that allowed her to get aggressive with television ads in the expensive Northern Virginia market.

It’s hard to say whether that money didn’t do enough to spread her pitch or if it tainted her candidacy in some voters’ eyes, Shirazi said. Another possibility is that the 36-year-old Jones’s youthful approach was more compelling. His victory was nonetheless notable because Clean Virginia had also backed Hashmi.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares speaks during an inaugural celebration on Jan. 15, 2022 in Richmond.

The general election will pit Jones against Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), the only incumbent on the ticket and the GOP candidate many analysts see as having the strongest chance against Democrats this fall.

Jones’s inclusion on the Democratic ticket may deliver a boost to that party — Spanberger’s weakest area of support is arguably Black voters in Hampton Roads, and Jones’s long-standing ties in the region may help boost turnout in a region that typically sees voter interest drop in off-year elections.

But Shirazi noted that Miyares, a former state delegate from Virginia Beach who is the first Latino elected statewide, is also likely to have strong appeal, setting up a battle that will see the incumbent focus on crime and immigration and Jones likely to center on Trump

4. NOVA misses out on the statewide ballot

For the first time in more than half a century, neither party has nominated an executive branch candidate from Northern Virginia, the state’s most populous region and its economic engine.

By contrast, half of the statewide candidates have ties to either Norfolk or Virginia Beach in the Hampton Roads region, and the other half are from the Richmond area, including two — Spanberger and Reid — from Henrico County alone.

Farnsworth predicted that it may not make that much of an impact politically: Voters in the increasingly liberal region, which is being hit hard by Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce, are likely to show up in droves for Democrats no matter who is on the ticket.

And Spanberger is not a complete unknown in the region. When she last ran for her congressional seat in 2022, the district had been redrawn the year before to stretch into some suburbs in eastern Prince William County — new ground that she was able to win over in a decisive victory over a GOP county supervisor.

“The painful reality for Republicans is that they are going to have to face widespread anger in the region against the party because of cutbacks,” he said.

But it is, if nothing else, an unusual historical quirk and perhaps a sign of the changing times: Both parties picked gubernatorial nominees hailing from Fairfax County four years ago — Youngkin and former governor Terry McAuliffe (D) — and Republicans haven’t run a fully downstate ticket since 2005.

5. House incumbents sail through

Visitors stand outside the Virginia Capitol in Richmond, Jan. 8, 2020.

All 100 House seats are on the ballot in November, but just three incumbents — state Dels. Delores McQuinn (D-Henrico), Patrick Hope (D-Arlington) and Terry L. Austin (R-Botetourt) — faced primary challengers, all of whom they beat handily.

There could be a hard-fought battle for the chamber come November, which could make or break a political agenda for either party depending on the outcomes. Democrats are running candidates in all 100 of those races, including some of the reddest districts in the state, while Republicans have fielded candidates in about 70.

There are no races for State Senate this fall. But if Hashmi wins the lieutenant governor primary and then the general election, her nomination could result in some uncertainty for Democrats in that chamber. Her open seat would put her party’s 21-19 majority in jeopardy.