Democrat Spanberger Expected to Win Virginia Governor's Race

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00:00Greg, it's great to see you. Happy Election Day. We couldn't do an election without you here.

00:04We talked about how close the race appears to be in New Jersey a short time ago. We've talked

00:09about the blowout that's expected for Zoran Mamdani in Manhattan. How about the gubernatorial

00:15race in Virginia, where there have been big questions about candidate quality on the Republican

00:20side and what many are framing as a layup for Abigail Spanberger? Yeah, it does seem like

00:25polls indicate that Abigail Spanberger, the former congresswoman, is going to win and probably win

00:30decisively in the race for governor, which would extend a pattern in Virginia governor's elections

00:36of the party that usually wins is usually the party opposite the White House. So it gets a lot of

00:42outsized attention for that. We see that in New Jersey as well, although the pattern is not as

00:46clear. But yeah, Abigail Spanberger seems to be on pace to win this and win this by a decent margin.

00:56I think a big question will be, is her victory strong enough to pull the down-ballot Democrats

01:01for lieutenant governor and state attorney general along with her? And to what extent her coattails

01:07can boost the state House of Delegates Democratic majority, which is now just 51 to 48? Democrats are

01:14seeking an expanded majority in the state House, not only to help shape state policy the next two

01:21years, but because they also want to redraw congressional district lines in Virginia and

01:26they would need Democratic government to do that. That attorney general race in Virginia is an

01:30interesting one. Jay Jones, the Democrat who was in when I drive through my neighborhood, I see his

01:34name on signs with Abigail Spanberger and of course was caught in a scandal over text messages in which

01:41she was wishing violence, political violence upon an opponent. Republicans, his challenger, Jason

01:47Meares, have seized on this. To what extent could this be an issue for Democrats? And does Abigail Spanberger

01:53need to get him elected tonight?

01:56Yeah, I mean, I think the margin for Spanberger may be kind of decisive in determining whether she can pull

02:03Jay Jones over the line. Obviously, the bigger the margin for her, I think the chances that Jones can weather this

02:08increase, although polling indicates that certainly this texting issue, the scandal from three years ago

02:17when he sent those violent text messages has really hurt his campaign. And polls show pretty close race

02:22between him and the Republican incumbent, Jason Meares. In these three races in Virginia every four

02:29years and the year after the presidential election, governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general

02:34more often than not tend to go the same way. But this may be a rare instance where they do not.

02:39But I think Spanberger's margin will be interesting to watch tonight and to what extent,

02:45what how far the drop off is for Jay Jones versus Spanberger's margins.