Both of the leading candidates for Virginia’s gubernatorial elections next year are deadlocked.

Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Earle Sears and Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger tied on 39% according to a recent statewide survey by the University of Mary Washington Center for Leadership and Media Studies.

The remaining 22% of respondents said that they were undecided or did not intend to vote. They would also back another candidate.

The pollsters found that if Virginia Republican Attorney-General Jason Miyares were his party’s candidate, he would be just as competitive in a general elections against Ms. Spanberger.

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When asked who they would choose if Ms. Spanberger faced Mr. Miyares, 40% said that they would pick Ms. Spanberger. 39% would prefer Mr. Miyares.

Mr. Miyares is not running for governor, but he has made it clear that he wants the job.

This poll’s results are similar to those of another UMW poll that showed Vice President Kamalah Harris and former president Donald Trump tied in Virginia. This poll showed that Ms. Harris had 47% of the likely voters’ vote and Mr. Trump was at 46%.

Ms. Spanberger launched her gubernatorial campaign in November 2023. She has been representing Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, since 2019.

Ms. Earle Sears, who was the first Black woman in Virginia to serve as lieutenant-governor, is now looking to become the first Black female governor of the state. She served previously in the state’s legislature.

She announced her candidacy earlier in the month.

Virginia’s governors cannot serve consecutive terms. Glenn Youngkin must therefore leave the office of Virginia’s popular Republican Governor in January 2026.

He was the first Republican governor elected in Virginia since Bob McDonnell, 2009. He defeated the former Virginia Governor. Terry McAuliffe was just 60,000 votes ahead of him in his bid for a non-consecutive second term.

Stephen J. Farnsworth is a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington and Director of UMW’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies. The biggest challenge facing these candidates is to become better known throughout the Commonwealth.

Virginia voters are less optimistic than they were about where the commonwealth thought it was headed.

24 percent of respondents said Virginia is heading in the right direction, while 26 percent believed that it is headed in the opposite direction. The rest of the responses suggested a mixed opinion.

Nevertheless, 51% of Americans believe that the U.S. is heading in the wrong directions, while 16% think it’s going in the right direction. Thirty-percent of respondents had mixed opinions.

Mr. Farnsworth stated that “Elections in Virginia never stop, and the year 2025 is likely to be an interesting one in the Commonwealth.”

Research America Inc. conducted a UMW poll from Sept. 3 to 9, 2024. The survey covered 1,000 Virginians, including 870 registered voters as well as 774 likely voters. The margin of error is +/- 4,1%.