State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D) defeated conservative talk show host John Reid in the Virginia lieutenant governor’s race on Tuesday, becoming the first Indian person to hold statewide office in the commonwealth and the first Muslim woman to win a statewide race in the U.S.

Hashmi led Reid throughout the general election, but polling in the race narrowed considerably in the run-up to Election Day.

Hashmi narrowly won her Democratic primary in June, defeating former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and state Sen. Aaron Rouse. 

Hashmi hails from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and had the support of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) in the primary.

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Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) defeated Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) in Virginia’s gubernatorial election on Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ, becoming the first woman to serve as governor of the commonwealth. 

Her victory in the closely watched bellwether state will be touted by the Democrats’ moderate wing in particular, as the party wrestles with how to define itself heading into next year’s midterm elections.

Spanberger first came onto the political scene in 2018 when she ousted former Republican Rep. Dave Brat in the state’s 7th Congressional District. She served in Congress, where she had a history of working with Republicans, from 2019 to the beginning of 2025. 

Spanberger’s gubernatorial campaign kicked off two years ago, and while there was speculation Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) was considering a run as well, the former congresswoman went unchallenged in the primary. 

Her campaign was defined by its highly disciplined nature, with Spanberger staying focused on her affordability message and defending Virginia from the impacts of President Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce.

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Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) defeated former New Jersey General Assembly member Jack Ciattarelli (R) in the New Jersey governor’s race, securing a major win for Democrats in their first election cycle since the start of President Trump’s second term, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Sherrill, a fourth-term congresswoman representing a district in northern New Jersey, fended off a competitive challenge from Ciattarelli, who ran for governor for a third time after narrowly losing to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) in 2021. Murphy is term-limited and couldn’t run again.

The race turned increasingly competitive in recent weeks, with some polling showing the election as a toss-up, as both candidates grappled with crisscrossing political headwinds.

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He was the most powerful and the most controversial vice president in American history.

Richard Bruce Cheney was a laconic onetime college dropout who found his place in Washington, moving to the capital as a congressional fellow and rising in short order to become White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford, a Wyoming congressman in the House Republican leadership and wartime secretary of defense for President George H.W. Bush.

Then, for eight years as vice president for the younger President George W. Bush, Cheney acted as no second-in-command had before − directing the presidential transition, devising policy on energy and leading a concerted administration effort to restore and expand executive authority from what he saw as congressional incursion.

Cheney, 84, died surrounded by family on the evening of Nov. 3 of complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from the Cheney family. It called him "a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing."

After the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, he played a central role in shaping a hard-edged approach toward terrorism that included unprecedented electronic surveillance within the United States and aggressive interrogation of foreign combatants that many called torture. He was an architect of the decision to invade Iraq, a war that in large part defined Bush’s presidency.

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