The candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia crisscrossed their states in the final weekend of the 2025 campaign season, ahead of the first big elections since President Donald Trump’s victory in 2024.
The races will provide some early answers to questions facing both political parties, from how to navigate the high cost of living to how to appeal to increasingly swingy Latino voters, as well as which side is more energized going into the 2026 midterms. Republicans face a familiar challenge of turning out Trump’s coalition when he is not on the ballot, while Democrats are looking for a boost after a demoralizing election last year.
In Virginia, former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger has consistently led her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, in polling and fundraising throughout the campaign. A more competitive race has formed in New Jersey, according to recent polling, where Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill is facing Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former state legislator.
Both Sherrill and Spanberger were elected to Congress in the party’s 2018 midterm blue wave during Trump’s first term, and they lived together while serving in the House. The former roommates are now looking to lead their party’s electoral pushback against Trump following his return to the White House.
“In 2025, it really feels like the important fight is at the state level in these governor’s offices, because with the president having the presidency, the GOP having the Senate and the House, and even co-opting the Supreme Court, the last bastion feels like governors' races and governors standing in the breach,” Sherrill told NBC News in an interview Friday.
While Democrats have brought some high-profile surrogates to their states, Republicans have largely campaigned on their own. Trump has not campaigned in person in either state, despite endorsing Ciattarelli. (Trump has not endorsed Earle-Sears.)
But the president is holding two telephone rallies Monday night for candidates in New Jersey and Virginia.
Both Spanberger and Sherrill had some help from former President Barack Obama at rallies Saturday. Obama appeared with Sherrill in Newark, the state’s largest city, amid some concerns about Black voter turnout. In Virginia, Obama rallied supporters in Norfolk and encouraged them to send a message to the rest of the country.
“Lord knows we need that light. We need that inspiration.” Obama said at both rallies. “Because, let’s face it, our country and our politics are in a pretty dark place right now.”
Obama told voters in both states they have the opportunity to “set a glorious example for this nation.”
Other prominent Democrats — including potential future presidential contenders — hit the campaign trail in both states in the final days.
In New Jersey, the state’s two Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, campaigned for Sherrill, along with Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego and Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy.
Their weekend events followed other top Democrats' forays into the state, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin. Many of the same names crossed through Virginia as well.
In Virginia, Spanberger continued her closing statewide bus tour — which had kicked off Oct. 25 — making stops Saturday in Norfolk, alongside Obama, and Sunday in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. On Monday, she’s scheduled to hold a trio of final-day events in the region of her old Richmond-area congressional district.
Her closing message has centered on her campaign-long focus on economic and affordability issues, as well as a sharp rejection of Trump’s policies and the chaos she said they’ve created in Virginia’s economy.
“With the political turmoil coming out of Washington right now, this election is an opportunity,” she said during her Norfolk speech.
“In Virginia, we need a governor who will recognize that Virginians are struggling to afford the rising costs in health care, housing and energy,” she added.
Polls in Virginia have consistently shown Spanberger leading. Early voting kicked off in the commonwealth more than six weeks ago, and as of Saturday, more than 1.43 million people had already voted — nearly 44% of total turnout in the 2021 governor’s race.
While Republicans did not see the same quantity of high-profile surrogates on the trail in the final days, Earle-Sears had support from popular Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Earle-Sears held campaign events Saturday in Abingdon, a heavily Republican area in southwest Virginia, and in Loudoun County. Youngkin, the term-limited Republican governor, appeared at those events, alongside the rest of the Republican ticket — John Reid, the lieutenant governor nominee, and Jason Miyares, the incumbent attorney general.
The same lineup appeared at Earle-Sears' campaign events Sunday in Prince George and Hanover, near Richmond. Earle-Sears was scheduled to hold more events Monday in Roanoke, Virginia Beach and Manassas, where Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters was scheduled to join.
In recent days, Earle-Sears has put a focus on attacking Spanberger over years-old violent texts from Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones, as well as efforts by legislative Democrats to redraw Virginia’s congressional maps.
But over the weekend, Earle-Sears revisited a message that had been a focus earlier in her campaign: emphasizing the accomplishments of Youngkin’s administration and telling voters that electing her would mark a continuation of his record, including growing the private sector of the economy.
“This election is about our future,” Earle-Sears said in Abingdon. “We’ve had four glorious years where we’ve been making jobs left and right. … We’ve already had so many successes, but there’s more that can happen.”
In New Jersey, Ciattarelli embarked on a bus tour to rally supporters over the weekend. Asked after he cast his ballot Friday if any big names would join him on the trail, he told reporters, “Jack Ciattarelli.”
This is Ciattarelli’s third run for governor after losing the 2017 GOP primary and becoming the GOP nominee in 2021, when he lost a surprisingly close 3-point race to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Ciattarelli said Friday that this year feels different.
“The issues I was talking about in ’21 were percolating. Today, they’re at a complete boil. We’ve got an affordability crisis, a public safety crisis, a public education crisis, a housing crisis, including overdevelopment,” Ciattarelli said.
“There’s a lot less indifference this time around,” Ciattarelli later added. “Back in ’21, I had too many people inside New Jersey, including Republicans, and people around the country who didn’t think I had a shot in hell. They now know differently because of our performance in ’21.”
Public polls have shown a competitive campaign in New Jersey, although the state of the race has varied depending on the survey. On Thursday alone, five independent polls came out showing Sherrill's lead ranging from 9 points to a negligible 1-point edge.
Both Ciattarelli and Sherrill have also highlighted the state's high cost of living in the campaign's closing days — part of more than $100 million in ads in the race, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Since the June primary, Democrats have spent nearly $64 million on ads through Election Day, while Republicans have spent more than $42 million.
“I’ll serve you as governor to drive your costs down,” Sherrill says in her closing TV ad. “On Day One, I’m declaring a state of emergency on utility costs to lower your family’s bills. And when I’m governor, no sales tax increases, period. And I’ll fight for your family just as hard as I fight for mine.”
Ciattarelli used one of his closing spots to cast himself as the “change” candidate, tying Sherrill to Murphy, the two-term Democratic governor.
“We need someone who’s honest with a real plan, someone who gets it,” Ciattarelli says in the ad. “As governor, I’ll fight every day for people who work hard and play by the rules because that’s what you deserve. Together, I know we can fix New Jersey. It’s time.”
In Virginia, Earle-Sears’ closing ads have largely focused on attacking Spanberger, highlighting Jones’ texts and her positions on the rights of transgender people, as well as tying her to national Democrats such as Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.
“She’s weak, she’s wrong, we can’t trust her,” the ad’s narrator says.
Spanberger, for her part, has used her closing ad to revisit her personal story, talking about her record of public service, including as a CIA officer.
