RICHMOND, Va. — Democrat Ghazala Hashmi won the lieutenant governor’s race in Virginia on Tuesday, defeating Republican John Reid.
Hashmi is currently a state senator representing a district south of Richmond. Prior to that, she worked as a college professor in Virginia. She entered politics in 2019 by flipping a Republican-held state Senate seat and went to on to win a crowded Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in June.
She is the first Indian American and first Muslim to win statewide office in Virginia. The Associated Press declared Hashmi the winner at 8:27 p.m. EST.
Reid addressed supporters after the projected win from his watch party event in Henrico.
"You built something that is very real, something that is worth protecting and something that will last long after tonight," Reid said. "We built a campaign rooted in respect for service, reward for hard work and belief in community and that cannot be allowed to end here. Tomorrow, I will get up just like I always do, and we will go back to our jobs and our families, our schools, our churches. We will roll up our sleeves, we keep fighting for the values that make our Commonwealth strong, for the Commonwealth of Virginia that raised us. So please do not walk out of here hanging your heads tonight. I'm not going to. I want you to lift them up, because we ran a good race. We fought a good fight. We stood in the arena together."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Virginia Politics
🗳️ Virginia Votes 2025: Updated Election Results
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Blue Sky | Facebook | Instagram | X | Threads | TikTok | YouTube
