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These centrist women on a group chat are leading Democrats in 2025
They jumped into politics in President Donald Trump’s first term. They ascended to Congress with similar resumes. They text all the time in a group chat. Now Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill and Elissa Slotkin are all playing leading roles for the Democratic Party — a trio of centrist women with national security backgrounds who helped retake the House in 2018 and this year hope to steer their beleaguered party back toward winning. Spanberger, 45, had already clinched the Democratic nomination for governor of Virginia heading into Tuesday’s primaries. She and 53-year-old Sherrill, the nominee in New Jersey, will lead Democrats on the ballot in the marquee races of 2025, testing the party’s ability to rebuild in Trump’s second term.
HRBT to break through on latest tunnel, route vehicles onto new bridge this fall
The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project will pass a pair of milestones this fall. Mary, a nickname for the 430-foot-long machine boring the two new eastbound tunnels, is on track to make its second breakthrough in September. The machine completed boring the first tunnel last April and took more than five months to get turned around. The Virginia Department of Transportation also plans to route eastbound traffic onto a new section of the bridge. Drivers exiting the tunnel to Norfolk will be directed onto the structure by early September. The traffic shift will mark the end of the old eastbound roadway nearby, which will be torn down next, and what’s expected to be the final 18 months of the project.
Key panel endorses ban on secluding Virginia Beach students
Following allegations about the mistreatment of an 11-year-old autistic student, a special education advisory panel is recommending Virginia Beach public schools ban the controversial practice of seclusion. The Virginia Beach Special Education Advisory Committee, which includes parents of children with special needs, is scheduled to formally request the change during a June 24 school board meeting. “We do make recommendations, but none as consequential as this one, none as big as this one,” Meghan Ashburn, the committee chairperson, told VCIJ at WHRO, “and none that has the potential to make such a big impact as this one.”
In 2025 Virginia governor's race, Democrat Abigail Spanberger makes appeal based on her bio
Democrat Abigail Spanberger is emphasizing her life and career as she aims to become the next governor of Virginia at a time when her national party is searching for answers on how to win over voters after an election cycle filled with setbacks. The Spanberger campaign's new advertisement for the general election, first reported by CBS News, shows her reflecting on the various kinds of hallways she's walked through, starting with her education at Virginia's J.R. Tucker High School, before quickly pivoting to the CIA, where she was a case officer, and then to the Capitol, where she was a bipartisan-minded U.S. House representative.
Chesapeake City Council rejects data center proposal
Chesapeake’s City Council received a rare standing ovation from a packed chamber Tuesday night after it voted unanimously to reject a proposed data center. “It was like Christmas again,” said Helen Messer, who lives in one of the houses that sits a few hundred feet from where the data center would have been. “I’ll sleep better than I have in a month.” The proposal from long-time Chesapeake developer Doug Fuller would have been the region’s first major data center. He pitched a 350,000-square-foot facility at the corner of Ethridge Manor and Centerville Turnpike, where Chesapeake’s Great Bridge suburbs give way to farmland, arguing it could be a huge financial windfall for the city and capitalize on new internet infrastructure the city is spending tens of millions on.
Jay Jones projected to win Va. Democratic nomination for attorney general
Former Norfolk delegate Jerrauld C. “Jay” Jones won the Democratic nomination for Virginia attorney general while the party’s choice for lieutenant governor was too close to call Tuesday night, according to election results projected by the Associated Press. The winners will join gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger in pivotal fall elections that will be watched as an off-year referendum on President Donald Trump and on Virginia’s own ambitious Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who is term-limited out of office.
Del. Hope wins House District 1 Democratic primary
There were two local races on the ballot — for a County Board seat and for the 1st District House of Delegates seat — and the incumbent candidate is well ahead in both. ... Del. Patrick Hope, meanwhile, appears well on his way to returning to Richmond, with 72% of the vote in the three-way House of Delegates race. Challengers Arjoon Srikanth and Sean Phillip Epstein have 19% and 9% of the vote, respectively.
Greg Gorham wins GOP primary in western Prince William House of Delegates race
Gregory Lee Gorham, of Sudley Springs, has handily won today’s primary for the Republican nomination in the race for the 21st District House of Delegates seat, defeating the two other candidates with more than 66% of the vote. With all 17 precincts in the western Prince William County district reporting, Gorham, 65, won 970 votes. Sahar Smith, 57, of Catharpin, came in a distant second place with 395 votes, and Xanthe Larsen came in third with 95 votes, according to still unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections. Gorham will face incumbent Del. Josh Thomas, a Democrat, in the November election. Thomas is vying for his second term in the seat.
House District 70 Republican primary: Cynthia Scaturico wins nomination
Cynthia Scaturico took home the Republican nomination in the House District 70 race Tuesday night, and will go on to face incumbent Democrat Del. Shelly Simonds in the November election. As of 9:27 p.m. with 62% ballots counted, Scaturico amassed more than 74% of the ballots cast, according to the Associated Press, which called the race for her. Opponent Hailey Dollar garnered roughly 26% of the vote.
Carnegie, Lamonea win House District 89 primaries
Democrat Karen “Kacey” Carnegie will face Republican Mike Lamonea in the November House District 89 race, after both candidates won their party’s respective primaries Tuesday. Carnegie beat Blaizen Buckshot Bloom with more than 76% of the vote when the Associated Press called the race Tuesday night. Carnegie had 2,706 votes as of 8:51 p.m., and Bloom had 848 votes. Lamonea beat Kristen Shannon with 65% of the vote when the Associated Press called the race at 9:17 p.m. Lamonea had 2,168 votes compared to Shannon’s 1,000 votes.