Democratic gubernatorial nominee and former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger wasn’t the only statewide candidate who made history on Tuesday night. The first woman to lead the commonwealth’s government will be joined in Richmond by fellow Democrats who proved themselves to be trailblazers in their own right.
Virginia voters elected state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi as the next lieutenant governor and former Del. Jay Jones as the next attorney general. Hashmi, an Indian American, is the first Muslim to win any statewide office in the nation, while Jones will be Virginia’s first Black attorney general.
Like Spanberger, whose Tuesday win broke a glass ceiling in place throughout the commonwealth’s 400-year history, Hashmi and Jones should be proud to have opened these doors to future generations, though ultimately they will be judged by their performance in office and not their demographics.
Hashmi, 61, is a native of Hyderabad, India, who immigrated to the United States with her family at age 4. She earned a doctorate of English from Emory University in Atlanta, and moved to Virginia with her husband in 1991, settling in the Richmond area. She was a professor at the University of Richmond and Reynolds Community College before winning election to the state Senate in 2019.
While the contest between Hashmi and Republican John Reid struggled to find oxygen amid a focus on the governor’s race, Hashmi distinguished herself as a legislator and on the campaign trail as a fierce defender of reproductive rights, a strong supporter of gun control measures and a vocal advocate for equality.
“This was possible because of the depth and breadth of the opportunities made available in this country and in this commonwealth,” Hashmi said in her Tuesday victory address.
Jones, 36, is a Norfolk native and a graduate of William & Mary and the University of Virginia Law School. He served two terms in the state House representing Norfolk’s 89th District, and unsuccessfully challenged then-Attorney General Mark Herring for the Democratic Party nomination in 2021.
Unlike the lieutenant governor’s race, the attorney general’s contest between Jones and incumbent Republican Jason Miyares had no shortage of attention following the release of text messages Jones sent to a Republican House colleague in 2022 that imagined the murder of then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert and Gilbert’s children.
The texts were abhorrent, and called into question Jones’ judgment and fitness for office. He took responsibility and apologized, but the scandal will likely follow him into the attorney general’s office for the rest of his political career. He will have to earn the trust of a commonwealth that remains deeply divided about his character and temperament, and that promises to be no small challenge.
It’s notable that these achievements — election of a female governor, a Muslim lieutenant governor and a Black attorney general, four years after voters here elected a Black female immigrant from Jamaica (Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears) and a Cuban American (Miyares) — come amid an all-out assault on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs and policies.
The Trump administration has made eliminating DEI a top priority throughout the federal government and wherever the president can extend his reach. It’s reflected in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sneering declaration in September to the military’s top brass that diversity being a strength of our nation is an “insane fallacy.”
The opposite is true in Virginia. This year’s slate featured a broad array of candidates — including Reid, who would have been the first openly gay Republican elected to statewide office — that reflects a population that is more diverse than ever before, and where the doors of opportunity are open to all.
That has weight and meaning. Detractors will do their best to dismiss these breakthroughs, but it is important that Virginians of all stripes feel represented in state government. While Tuesday’s victors will be judged on the work they do rather than their gender, race, faith or other characteristics, commonwealth voters can be proud to have broken new ground this week.
