Stoney drops out of governor's race to run for lieutenant governor
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is getting out of the race for governor and jumping into the Democratic nominating contest for lieutenant governor.
Stoney, 42, in the final year of his second term as mayor, will formally bow out of the race on Tuesday morning at the same time as his announcement that he will run for lieutenant governor. That is the path then-state Sen. Doug Wilder took almost 40 years ago before becoming the nations first elected Black governor four years later. Stoney had wanted to become the second Black person to serve as governor of Virginia.
His departure appears to clear Rep. Abigail Spanberger's path to the Democratic nomination for governor in 2025. Spanberger, D-7th, had announced her run for governor in mid-November, three weeks before Stoney jumped into the race.
Spanberger is forgoing a reelection bid for her fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives for a bid to become the first woman elected governor in Virginia.
Source:
https://richmond.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/elections/levar-stoney-abigail-spanberger-winsome-earle-sears-jason-miyares-governor-lieutenant-governor/article_d134dc4e-0105-11ef-bc04-0f9d989abedb.html
Official statement by Mayor Stoney (from x/twitter):