A crowd cheers for Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger on election night in Richmond on November 4, 2025. She won her race for governor alongside Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, and both expressed support for reproductive rights protections during the campaign. (Photo: Charlotte Renee Woods/Virginia Mercury)
Despite less focus on abortion in the 2025 elections, voters on Tuesday backed Democratic candidates who support reproductive rights in New Jersey and Virginia and retained Democratic judges in Pennsylvania who will handle abortion cases.
Virginia’s electorate made history on Tuesday by voting for former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat who is poised to become the Commonwealth’s first female governor. With 57% of the vote, she defeated Republican Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears — the first black woman in the country to win a GOP governor’s seat.
“It’s a big deal that the girls and young women I met on the campaign trail now know with certainty that they can achieve anything,” Spanberger said during her speech victory speech.
During the campaign, she pledged to support reproductive rights protections in Virginia. Virginia law allows abortion during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Earle-Sears said she would sign the contract ban on abortion at 15 weeks or earlier to the law if elected, and that she was "morally opposed” to a potential abortion rights amendment.
Democrats swept the statewide electionwinning all executive races and winning a dozen or so seats in the House of Delegates, Virginia Mercury reported.
The raise in the Democratic majority in the General Assembly all but cements the fact that Virginia voters could bet reproductive freedom amendment to the state constitution next year. Already a legislator approved the resolution in February, which would provide rights to abortion, infertility treatment, contraception and similar reproductive health care. However, state law requires such proposals to be reviewed twice in subsequent legislative sessions before they go to voters.
If the measure reaches the November 2026 ballot and voters approve the amendment, Virginia will be the first state in the Southeast to strengthen reproductive rights since the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated abortion rights nationally in June 2022. Virginia is the only state in the region that did not restrict access after the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
Spanberger’s ex Congress roommate he also made history in New Jersey this week.
US Democratic Republican Mikie Sherrill won her gubernatorial race against Republican Jack Ciattarelli with at least 56% of the vote, New Jersey Monitor reported.
Sherrill will become the first Democrat to serve as governor of the Garden State, and her victory will be the first in more than 60 years since either party won the office in three straight elections.
“Governors have never been more important,” she said Tuesday night. “In this state, I am committed to building prosperity for all of our citizens.”
The race turned on concerns about the cost of living, polls showed abortion was not the main topic for voters. However, reproductive rights advocates have supported Sherrill, who supports abortion protections in New Jersey. Outgoing Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation in 2023 providing that secured the lawand is one of the few states with no restrictions on abortion during pregnancy.
Supporters in New Jersey worried that Ciattarella’s victory could revoke access. He signaled he would sign a 20-week abortion ban and a bill requiring parental notification for minors seeking abortions, and promised to redirect state funds from Planned Parenthood to anti-abortion centers. Monitor reported.
In Pennsylvania, supporters and opponents of abortion rights he poured out millions in ads and mailers about state judicial retention elections, highlighting the importance of state supreme courts in legal disputes over post-Roe abortion laws.
Voters this week retained Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht, maintaining a 5-2 Democratic majority on the Court, The star of Pennsylvania’s capital reported.
A case over the constitutionality of a ban on using state Medicaid funds to cover abortion costs is expected to go back to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. A majority of judges allowed the lawsuit to proceed last year and referred the complaint to lower courts.
Donohue said she suspects the ban likely violates the Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment. “The right to make reproductive health care decisions is a fundamental, important right with an interwoven privacy interest protected by our Charter,” she said. he wrote in the main opinion, with which Dougherty partially agreed and Wecht joined.
And while affordability was a key issue in the New York mayoral race won by Zohran Mamdani, several reproductive rights groups endorsed the Democratic Socialist Assembly member.
He supported the addition last year Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution, which prohibits discrimination, including regarding reproductive health and pregnancy choices.
“New Yorkers must be guaranteed access to sexual and reproductive health care – regardless of who is in office,” Mamdani wrote in an October 2024 opinion piece. Queens Daily Eagle. Above 60% of voters approved the amendment the following month.
As part of his mayoral campaign, Mamdani also promised to introduce universal child care in the most populous U.S. city. He and New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul agree lawmakers should address the issue. child care crisis. However, Mamdani will need approval from Hochul and the Legislature to fund his initiative, New York in the spotlight reported.
“In the face of devastating federal budget proposals, attacks on Medicaid, and concerted efforts to restrict access to abortion and gender-affirming care, strong local and state leadership has never been more critical,” she added. he said Wendy Stark, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, is voting for the PAC this summer. “We know that as mayor, Zohran will fight to ensure that sexual and reproductive health care providers have the resources and support they need to care for their communities.”
This story was originally produced by News from the USwhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes the Ohio Capital Journal and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
