FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, November 04, 2025
CONTACT: Daniela Perez, [email protected]
Richmond, VA – Care in Action, the national policy and advocacy home for more than 2.2 million domestic workers – including home care workers, nannies, and housecleaners – celebrated tonight’s historic election results in Virginia, where voters elected Abigail Spanberger as Governor and Ghazala Hashmi as Lieutenant Governor and sent a slate of care champions into office up and down the ballot.
“This is a win powered by care,” said Jenn Stowe, Executive Director of Care in Action. “At a time when Trump and Republicans are slashing Medicaid and SNAP and stoking fear with ICE raids, Virginians chose care champions who will protect workers and the families who rely on them. Tonight made clear that care is not a side issue: it’s how families are able to work, how aging and disabled adults live with dignity, how care workers can sustain their own families, and how our economy runs every single day. By electing and defending care champions here, Virginians are showing the rest of the country what’s at stake – and what’s possible – in the 2026 midterms.”
Care in Action endorsed Abigail Spanberger for Governor and Ghazala Hashmi for Lieutenant Governor because they committed to defend Medicaid and public benefits, expand child care and paid leave, strengthen home-and community-based care, and raise standards for care workers. Their wins are a mandate to protect Virginia families from cuts to the care infrastructure they rely on.
This cycle, Care in Action ran a six-figure program focused on women of color, care voters, and domestic workers. Virginia is home to roughly 54,236 domestic workers who keep households and the state’s economy running, yet they are among the lowest-paid in the country, with home care workers earning a median annual wage of $21,889 and nearly 60% relying on public assistance. Medicaid sustains nearly 100,000 direct care jobs in Virginia today, and the Commonwealth will need an estimated 184,000 additional care workers by 2032.
In addition to Spanberger and Hashmi’s victory, Care in Action–backed candidates Rae Cousins (HD-79), Marcia Price (HD-85), Don Scott (HD-88), and Briana Sewell (HD-25) won their races, sending a pro-care bloc to Richmond ready to restore overtime protections for live-in domestic workers and advance paid family and medical leave, affordable child care, and stronger protections for care workers. While many contests have been called, several endorsed races remain too close to call, and we join election officials in urging patience and accuracy: every ballot must be counted so that care workers and care voters know their voices are fully reflected before results are certified.
Care in Action will continue organizing across Virginia to ensure the new Governor and legislature deliver on this mandate: protecting domestic workers, defending Medicaid, and making care accessible to every family.
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Care in Action is the policy and advocacy home for women who care, working on behalf of more than two million domestic workers and care workers across America. Among the fastest-growing sectors in our economy, domestic workers are also among the most vulnerable and undervalued. As a mostly women and majority women of color workforce, this growing constituency consistently and overwhelmingly supports progressive values in American political life. Learn more at www.careinaction.us.