NEED TO KNOW
- Abigail Spanberger, a former Congresswoman and CIA agent, will become Virginia’s first female governor after winning on Tuesday, Nov. 4
- Her three daughters — Claire, Charlotte and Catherine — were by her side during her victory speech
- Spanberger jokingly said Catherine “did not clean [her] room today as promised”
Abigail Spanberger made history in Virginia on Tuesday, Nov. 4, becoming the state’s first female governor, and she celebrated the milestone with her three daughters by her side.
Spanberger, a Democrat who served in the U.S. House from January 2019 to January 2025 and is a former CIA agent, flipped Virginia’s governorship blue and will replace term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She ran against Youngkin’s lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears.
Before Spanberger, 46, took the stage in Richmond, Va., to speak with supporters, her husband, Adam Spanberger, soaked in the historic moment as he introduced her. The couple are parents to Claire, Charlotte and Catherine, according to Richmond Magazine.
“Your mom’s gonna be the governor of Virginia,” Adam said, turning to their daughters. “I can guarantee those words have never been spoken in Virginia before. It’s a big deal that the girls and women I have met … know with certainty that they can achieve anything.”
Spanberger teared up as she told her family she loved them. Adam and their daughters stood behind her, wiping tears from their cheeks.
“I am lucky to be your mother,” Spanberger told her daughters in her victory speech. “And Catherine, you did not clean your room today as you promised me.”
“I’m working on it,” Catherine replied.
Earlier in her speech, Spanberger turned her attention to her mother, who spent time in foster care.
“When I think about your life and the time spent in foster care, to putting yourself through nursing school and the challenges along the way, you made clear to us that to whom much is given, much is expected,” Spanberger said. “And you have given me so much. Born of your own struggles and your own challenges, and I know much is expected.”
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Democrats picked up two other state-wide victories on Tuesday night. Ghazala F. Hashmi will become the first Muslim woman to hold a statewide office in the U.S. when she is sworn in as Virginia’s new lieutenant governor. Jay Jones also beat the incumbent Republican Jason Miyares to become the state’s next Attorney General, according to the Associated Press.
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