DOGE and the shutdown, redistricting and more : NPR

Several recent surprises have shaken up what political observers thought would be a quiet race in Virginia.

The commonwealth's gubernatorial race, one of two held a year after the presidential election, is often seen as a test of how voters view leaders in Washington.

Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate and former congresswoman, has maintained a lead in the polls since the start of the race over Republican Lt. Gov. Wince Earl-Sears.

But this year, for now voters' main concerns are energy prices, housing affordability and jobs, the rest of the race has become a referendum on everything from political violence to redistricting.

Here, journalists from media outlets across Virginia take us through each issue.

DOGE and the federal government shutdown

Problems The clash with Virginia's 320,000 federal workers and hundreds of thousands of federal contractors occurred well before the Oct. 1 government shutdown. Earlier this year, thousands of Virginians were laid off during Elon Musk's DOGE efforts.

Commonwealth Democrats are hoping voter anger over layoffs and furloughs will propel them to victory Tuesday night. On the campaign trail, Spanberger talks about protecting federal workers in the face of “chaos from Washington.” At a campaign event on Thursday, Spanberger put it this way: “The stakes in this election are serious.”

As the furlough entered its second month, Virginia Republicans also saw politics in the shutdown. “My opponent has been playing political football with federal employees all summer, trying to say she loves them more than anyone else,” Earl-Sears said on the debate stage, then criticized Spanberger for encouraging Democrats in Congress to resist any financial deal that doesn’t include continued health care subsidies.

But Earl-Sears hasn't shied away from the Trump administration's cuts to the federal workforce. She said she believes allegations of “waste, fraud and abuse” and argued that the impact of layoffs in Virginia would be minimal because of the economic strength she and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin had commanded over the previous four years.

Political violence

The scandal in the election race for the post of attorney general affected the entire newspaper. At the beginning of last month, text messages from 2022 show Jay Jones, Democratic candidate for attorney general and former Virginia state legislator, describing hypothetical violence against a political opponent.

Earl-Sears and other Republican candidates have tried to link the text messages to the murder of Charlie Kirk, portraying Democrats as politically aggressive.

Spanberger condemned the messages and political violence in general, but did not withdraw or increase her support for Jones. “Voters must make individual choices based on this information,” she said during the gubernatorial debate.

Jones' GOP opponent, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, is asking Spanberger voters to split their tickets.

Redistricting

Democrats in the Virginia Legislature made another push for the campaign last week, calling a surprise series of meetings after North Carolina became yet another state to redraw its congressional map in favor of the GOP at the behest of President Trump.

The Virginia Legislature on Friday proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow redistricting ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Because it must be approved by lawmakers again next year before voters can finalize the amendment next spring, its success depends on whether Spanberger wins his re-election race and whether Democrats retain control of the House of Delegates.

How much the redistricting plan will change voters' opinions remains a matter of debate. About a million voters cast ballots before Democrats announced their plan, while the redistricting session baffled delegates in the final full week of the campaign.

Earl-Sears, who presides over the state Senate as lieutenant governor, was also recalled to Richmond. She still managed to hold events around the stateand a news conference on the steps of the Virginia Capitol while a small crowd held “Nice for the Governor” signs.

Spanberger has made few public comments about redistricting beyond signaling her general support.

Transgender youth

Republicans across the ballot have made Virginia's transgender youth a top campaign issue.

The controversy over transgender athletes and bathrooms in Virginia schools really heated up when Republican Glenn Youngkin made it a focus of his 2021 campaign for governor. This may have helped him become the first GOP governor elected in more than a decade.

But even though Republicans will spend millions on advertising for transgender students in 2025, recent survey shows it's a top concern for 3 percent of voters. The economy and opposition to Trump's policies are at the forefront of most voters' minds.

Spanberger said she likely leads on the issue because Republicans are “hurting children.”

“Especially the effort to heavily politicize a group of kids who need a little grace and the adults around them to care,” the former congresswoman said.

“I don’t take a stand because it’s easy to do. Of course it's not easy. I get scolded for this,” Earl-Sears. saidcomparing his support for cisgender students to the civil rights movement.