Liam Glavin ‘27 (he/him) is a government major from Falls Church, Va. He loves running, reading and spending time with friends and hopes to instill values of political and civic engagement across the community. Contact him at ljglavin@wm.edu.
The views expressed in the article are the author’s own.
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, was a historic night across the commonwealth of Virginia. Abigail Spanberger won her race and flipped the governorship to become the first ever woman to serve as Virginia’s governor. Ghazala Hashmi won her lieutenant governor’s race to become the first Muslim woman ever elected to statewide office across the country. Furthermore, Jay Jones won his race to become Virginia’s first Black attorney general, despite a text message scandal that roiled his campaign.
Jessica Anderson and Mark Downey also won their local races for the Virginia House of Delegates, defeating Republican incumbents. At a time of unprecedented Republican and far-right attacks against higher education, especially with the Trump administration’s recent compact that imposes demands on universities which must be met for them to receive preferential federal funding, these victories were precisely what we needed to protect the interests of the College of William and Mary and push the commonwealth of Virginia in a more positive direction.
We are a public university. As a result, the Virginia state government plays a pivotal role in shaping our operations. We can most directly see this influence of the state in our board of visitors, of whom the Virginia governor has the power to appoint. For instance, throughout his tenure as governor, Republican Glenn Youngkin has sought to stack the boards of public colleges throughout our commonwealth, including the College, with conservative appointees more favorable toward succumbing to the anti-DEI, anti-free speech and anti-institutional independence demands of the Republican Party, most recently under the Trump administration.
We have already seen the disastrous results of Youngkin’s appointments in schools across Virginia. For instance, the University of Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University, James Madison University and Virginia Commonwealth University all voted through their Youngkin-appointed boards to dismantle their universities’ DEI programs after pressure from the Trump administration. At the College, our Youngkin-appointed board opted to pull back from our DEI programs more subtly. We can see this in how the College changed the title of Chief Diversity Officer to Senior Advisor to the President and renamed the Center for Student Diversity to the Student Center for Inclusive Excellence. Last semester, the board of visitors also passed a resolution affirming a “merit-based” and “values-based” education at the College, signaling a step away from DEI without directly calling for its dismantlement. A Spanberger governorship could lead to the appointment of new university board members who will prioritize protecting and advocating for students, rather than capitulating to the Trump administration.
A Democratic attorney general, such as Jones, is also poised to play a critical role in protecting the interests of Virginia public universities against the Trump administration. Outside of the ability to sue the Trump administration, Jones will have the power to appoint the legal counsel for Virginia public universities, including the College. Hosted in the Office of University Counsel, these appointees assist the College in providing legal counsel to the board of visitors and other executives at the College, administrations, staff and even students. Realistically, in the event of any legal disputes, the Office of University Counsel is the first point of contact we would turn for assistance.
With Jones as the new attorney general, his appointees will no longer be connected to the Republican Party conducting these attacks against higher education. This new counsel can now stand unafraid in defending students and the College against the unprecedented meddling of the Trump administration. Without a Democratic attorney general, it is difficult to imagine the College standing up to the Trump administration because we realistically would not have the backing of a Republican-appointed legal counsel in such a situation. Jones allows us to chart a new path by appointing those who will effectively defend the College and other universities across the commonwealth of Virginia in the legal realm from the fascist and racist attacks of the political right.
Jessica Anderson and Mark Downey winning local Virginia House of Delegates races is also a positive development for the College. We can now have local candidates in the Virginia legislature focused on protecting institutions of higher education, rather than representatives who belong to a party that seeks to strip funding and subvert the institutional independence of these institutions.
Overall, I certainly disagree with some of Spanberger’s more moderate positions, especially her stated refusal to completely overturn the anti-union “right-to-work” laws that exist in Virginia. I am also uncomfortable with how Spanberger has repeatedly bashed progressives throughout her career, most recently with her attacks against Zohran Mamdani in New York City.
I am nonetheless happy with the downballot wins of Democrats and the ascension of Spanberger into the governorship. I believe Spanberger and the downballot Democrats under her wing will lead our commonwealth in a much more positive direction, protecting our state and institutions of higher education from the Trump administration’s unprecedented authoritarian attacks.
