State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi

Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor

WWho: Ghazala Hashmi

Where: Virginia

Why: Tuesday’s primary election in Virginia set the slate of candidates for the state’s top elected offices and the entire House of Delegates for the general election on November 4. Democrats are united around their line-up, which places at the top of the ticket two women from the Richmond area—former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanburger, who is running for governor, and state Senator Ghazala Hashmi, who is running for lieutenant governor.

Virginia’s lieutenant governor has few official duties but three very important roles: succeeding as governor, of course, if the governor resigns or becomes incapacitated; presiding over the state Senate and casting the deciding vote in the event of a tie; and becoming the likely front-runner for the nomination for governor in 2029. (Virginia’s governors are limited to one term.) Indeed, Spanburger’s opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears, is the current lieutenant governor and ran unopposed for the Republican nomination for governor.

Hashmi won a close primary race against a strong field of six candidates and if she prevails in November would be the first South Asian and first Muslim elected to a statewide office. She holds a Ph.D. in American literature from Emory University and was a professor at the University of Richmond and Reynolds Community College before being elected to the state Senate in 2019. In 2024, she was named chair of the powerful Senate Education and Health Committee, which oversees two key policy areas—reproductive freedom and public education.

Hashmi is running against John Reid, a conservative talk-radio host, who did not have a primary challenger and has never held elected office. Reid, who is openly gay, was not the first choice of prominent Republicans including Gov. Glen Youngkin, who asked Reid to step aside after he was accused of reposting pornography online, which Reid has denied. Yet to be seen is whether Earle-Sears and Reid will campaign together.

Reid has stated publicly that if there was a tie in the Senate on three Democrat-led constitutional amendments to codify reproductive rights, restore voting rights for former felons and remove a ban on same-sex marriage, he would break it by voting against all three. Virginia has an unusual multi-year constitutional amendment process in which these measures which passed both chambers earlier this year will need to passed a second time in the next session before going to voters in 2026. Currently, Democrats have a 21-19 advantage in the state Senate and a 51-49 majority in the House of Delegates.

Complicating the state Senate situation: If Hashmi wins in November, there will be a special election to fill her Senate seat, which expires in 2028.

Sources: Associated Press, Ballotpedia, Virginia Mercury, VPM, Washington Post