Before he was elected last year, President Donald Trump predicted that he could win in Virginia. One year later, the president kept his distance from the governor’s race and was quick to deflect the blame for significant Republican losses.
“We’re trying to make it convenient for them to go out and vote, but we are doing very well in certain areas that we weren’t expected to do. Virginia, we’re doing well. We’re doing well all over,” Trump told Laura Ingraham in October of 2024.
“Virginia hasn’t been won in decades by a [Republican] presidential candidate, and we have a really good chance,” Trump said during a tele-townhall in September of 2024.
Trump did not win in Virginia last year — though he did slightly narrow the margin in Virginia compared to the two previous cycles.
Moreover, Virginia’s 2025 elections show that Trump has not only failed to make gains in the state, but voter sentiment is actually trending strongly in the opposite direction.
The Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Abigail Spanberger, won by nearly 15 points Tuesday night, and candidates down the ballot also won big.
Democrats in the House of Delegates now hold their largest majority in decades, with 64 seats.
The Senate remains in Democratic control with a slim 21-19 margin; however, pundits expect that margin to grow in two years when the chamber is up for reelection and Trump will still be the president.
Trump was quick to try to distance himself from the Republican losses seen in Virginia and New Jersey this week.
“‘Trump wasn’t on the ballot, and shutdown, were the two reasons that Republicans lost elections tonight,’ according to Pollsters,” Trump posted on social media.
Trump, perhaps reading the vibes before the election, kept his distance from Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears. He never openly endorsed her or the Republican lieutenant governor nominee, John Reid, while he advocated for Attorney General Jason Miyares’ reelection.
The closest the president came to endorsing Earle-Sears was by attacking Spanberger.
“Well, I think the Republican candidate is very good and I think she should win because the Democrat candidate’s a disaster,” he said aboard Air Force One in October.
Exit polls from CNN show that only 39% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president.
Another interesting note from the CNN exit polls shows that candidate quality also had an impact on the race.
A majority of voters gave Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin a positive approval rating — but one-quarter of voters who think he did a good job as governor voted for Spanberger.
Trump’s 2024 campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, who has worked in Virginia politics for decades and been critical of the Earle-Sears campaign, seemed to imply on social media that the Republican losses should be blamed on the gubernatorial nominee.
While sharing a statement from election analyst Dave Wasserman on Twitter, where he mentioned the large majority Democrats have in the House now, LaCivita wrote: “Thank You Winsome Sears!”