At Polls, Virginia Voters Express Concerns over Top Candidates

The Washington Post

12:58 JST, November 6, 2025

On an Election Day in Virginia that drew national attention as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s policies on the economy, immigration and rule of law, voters on both sides of the aisle said they were conflicted about their candidates in the key statewide races for governor and attorney general.

In the historic race for governor that saw Democrat Abigail Spanberger elected the first woman to lead the commonwealth, most voters interviewed by Washington Post reporters outside of their polling places said they stuck to party affiliation. But some registered Republicans, citing dissatisfaction with their party’s priorities, said they voted for Spanberger over Republican Winsome Earle-Sears.

Richard Bliss turned 81 on Tuesday and celebrated by heading to the polls in Falls Church with his wife, Joan, both lifelong Republicans who split from their party to vote largely for Democratic candidates. “I’m still a registered Republican, but I am adamantly opposed to what’s happening right now, Joan Bliss said. “Our democracy is no more.”

Anna Rafferty, a registered Republican in Richmond, said she voted for Trump in 2016 but couldn’t continue to support him after the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol and has since voted for Democrats.

This election she voted for Spanberger, saying she hopes to elect someone who both stands up to Trump and advocates for the reproductive freedoms of her two young adult daughters.

“I haven’t been crazy about [Virginia Gov. Glenn] Youngkin and his stance on women’s rights and choice, since it’s now up to the states,” Rafferty said.

Stephanie Prettol, a 72-year-old from Lake Ridge, is another registered Republican who voted for Spanberger. Prettol said she viewed Spanberger as a moderate candidate who better aligned with her views than Earle-Sears.

“It was a really hard decision,” Prettol said. “ … This is the toss of the coin, to tell you the truth.”

Dave Atwal, who emigrated from India when he was 22, has voted Republican ever since becoming a citizen. On Tuesday, the 59-year-old Springfield resident voted for Spanberger, in part, he said, because of the unwillingness of Republicans to stand up to Trump. Trump, he said, “is dividing the country, not uniting the country.”

Meanwhile, many Democrats expressed hesitation about voting for their party’s candidate for attorney general, Jay Jones, in his race against incumbent Attorney General Jason S. Miyares. A month ago, text messages came to light that Jones sent in 2022 to a Republican lawmaker in which he mused about a hypothetical scenario of putting two bullets in the head of the then-Republican speaker of the House of Delegates and urinating on the graves of other political opponents.

Sangeetha Sarma, 44, who voted for Spanberger because of her positions on women’s rights, said she could not ignore Jones’ violent text messages.

“I disagreed and was deeply concerned with what he did, and so it did impact my vote,” said Sarma, who didn’t vote for either attorney general candidate. “Political violence in any form should not be tolerated and candidates, regardless of party, should be held accountable. Voting is one way of doing that.”

Other Democrats said they held their noses and voted for Jones.

Ashburn voter Marilyn Angonik, 90, said that while she was “disgusted” by the messages, she still voted Democratic down the ballot.

“It makes me terribly upset,” Angonik said. “I’m disgusted with that. He did apologize. I hope it was just a temporary screw up.”

Allison Britto, 37, of Alexandria, said she voted for Jones even though she “didn’t love” what she had heard about the texts. “But,” she said, “it just kind of seems like that is the temperature of politics right now, unfortunately. So when the other side does that day in and day out, it’s, you know, hard to see that and then clutch your pearls when it’s somebody on your side.”

Doug Moser, 67, has reservations about both parties, he said outside his polling place in Gainesville. But Moser, who served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, knew which circles he’d bubble on his ballot the moment Spanberger evaded a question about Jones’ text messages at a debate, he said.

“What the Jay Jones thing did was turn me off to other Democratic candidates,” Moser said, standing outside the clubhouse at Heritage Hunt, a 55-plus community. “When the Democrats didn’t hoist him by his own petard that just said, well, that’s it.”

Jesse Puckett, a 53-year-old contractor, said he voted for “common sense” in this year’s election. Johnson’s text messages helped drive his vote. “The only thing I know about that guy is the text messages, and he should be nowhere near the office,” Puckett said. “That’s the one of the reasons why I am here today is because Spanberger wouldn’t condemn what he said.”

Many voters said they were concerned about the growing political divide in Virginia and in the country.

“I have PTSD because I was at the Pentagon during 9/11, but I think people are going to have PTSD these days just from worrying about daily life,” said Julie Tutwiler, 69, a retired federal employee who voted a straight Democratic ballot in Fairfax County. Tutwiler said her vote was driven by what she called the country’s “cruel and inhumane” political atmosphere.

“There’s a lot of ‘othering’ going on in America, where people are pushing away people who don’t look like them, or people who think about sex differently,” she said. “We need to get back to talking to each other.”

George Parker, 68, said the issues that matter to him are fundamental ones, not just political ones. “We used to care about each other more,” Parker said after voting outside of Tomahawk Creek Middle School in Midlothian. “Now it feels like corporations run everything, especially in elections. Money controls so much.”

While the race for governor and attorney general drew most of the attention, the race for lieutenant governor also guaranteed a historic result.

Seemi Andrabi, 58, originally from Pakistan, said she is keen to see Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Ghazala Hashmi be the first Muslim woman to take statewide office.

“She brings people together,” Andrabi said. “She’s won twice in a Republican district and she likes to, you know, take people along, and I think she’s going to be good for the state.”

John Reid, the Republican candidate, would also make history as Virginia’s first openly gay lieutenant governor.

Richmond lawyer Barry Gabay, 39, said he split his ticket, voting for Spanberger for governor and Reid for lieutenant governor. “We need bipartisan support right now, and chances are Reid will do a better job reaching across the aisle,” Gabay said.