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Defending Equality at the Ballot Box Key Gubernatorial Races to Follow in Virginia and New Jersey
Summer 2025 • Delphine Luneau She/Her
For much of the United States, 2025 marks a welcome respite from the relentless drumbeat seen in a typical election year, where candidates blanket the airwaves and at times it can seem like that’s all anyone is talking about.
There’s no respite in New Jersey and Virginia, however — two states that schedule their statewide elections in so-called “off years,” meaning that races for governor and to populate their state legislatures are already well underway.
What does this mean for the LGBTQ+ communities in those states? A whole lot in Virginia, and more than you might expect in New Jersey.
Virginia
In Virginia, where incumbent Gov. Glenn Youngkin is term-limited, the race for a new governor is a contest between former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee, and current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee. Virginia is the only state in the South that currently has nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people, making it essential that these protections remain in place at a time when the Trump administration, Congress and the Supreme Court have taken steps to attack our community.
Spanberger, who is endorsed by HRC, has been a consistent pro-equality champion as a public servant. She fought to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, co-sponsored the Equality Act and has vowed as governor to work toward enshrining marriage equality in the Virginia constitution.
[Abigail] understands that Virginia’s future success depends on the full inclusion and protection of all its people,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said of Spanberger. “As governor, she will work tirelessly to build a Virginia where everyone — regardless of who they are or whom they love — can live, work and go to school with dignity, safety and opportunity."
Earle-Sears, on the other hand, might be even more anti-equality than the departing Youngkin, with a history of remarks attacking marriage equality and transgender Virginians.
In the race to succeed Earle-Sears as lieutenant governor, HRC has endorsed Ghazala Hashmi, and is also backing Jay Jones for attorney general. The organization is also supporting 16 candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates, a key chamber in ensuring that pro-equality legislation is kept moving in the state and Virginia doesn’t backslide in its support for LGBTQ+ rights.
New Jersey
In New Jersey, HRC has endorsed U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee, to be the next governor of the Garden State. Her opponent is the Republican nominee, Jack Ciattarelli, a former member of the New Jersey Assembly who ran and lost against incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021.
Sherrill has been a consistent supporter of pro-equality measures during her time in Congress, supporting both the Respect For Marriage Act and the Equality Act. She has also spoken in favor of banning conversion therapy and expanding access to HIV prevention and gender-affirming healthcare.
At a time when too many politicians are using LGBTQ+ people as political pawns, Sherrill has shown what it means to lead with integrity, compassion and action,” Kelley Robinson said. “We are proud to endorse her for governor and mobilize our members across the Garden State to help elect a true pro-equality champion."
Ciatarelli, meanwhile, has made comments in opposition to marriage equality and has supported moves to ban education around LGBTQ+ identities in schools, saying, “we're going to roll back the LGBTQ curriculum."
Ultimately, the LGBTQ+ community and its allies will have an important voice in both the Virginia and New Jersey elections, as HRC counts about two million Equality Voters in each state — a significant voting bloc that stands to swing the outcome of these races and ensure that both states remain safe places for their LGBTQ+ residents to live, work and enjoy their lives.
Election Day in both states is Nov. 4, 2025.
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