A once-happy Virginia Democratic ticket. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images Until very recently, the much-watched off-year elections in Virginia were looking pretty bad for Republicans. Their gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears , has been struggling to compete financially and politically with Democrat Abigail Spanberger , a centrist congresswoman. Specific candidacies aside, Virginia has a long history of rejecting gubernatorial candidates from the party controlling