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       RICHMOND — Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) will not seek reelection in Virginia’s 7th District next year so she can run for Virginia governor in 2025, according to two people familiar with the Democrat’s plans.

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       Spanberger, who won a third term last year in one of the state’s most competitive swing districts, will announce her gubernatorial bid very soon, according to the two, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the congresswoman had hoped to make her announcement a surprise. One of the two said she was preparing to launch her campaign “imminently.” The other was more specific, saying she would do so Monday with the release of a video.

       Spanberger’s campaign declined to comment.

       The congresswoman’s interest in seeking the Executive Mansion has hardly been a secret but her “imminent” entry, whether it’s Monday or even a few months away, would be unusually early — nearly two years before Election Day in November 2025.

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       No one from either party has formally jumped into the race to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who cannot seek reelection in Virginia, the only state that bars its governors from serving consecutive terms. Youngkin formally declared his candidacy for the 2021 contest in January of that year, a month after the announcement of former Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe, who was seeking a comeback.

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       Candidates might be inclined to make ever-earlier entrances given the enormous sums required to win the post in recent cycles. Last time around, McAuliffe spent $69 million and Youngkin $68 million. By bowing out of a reelection bid now, Spanberger also gives Democrats more time to recruit candidates to run in the 7th District.

       Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, a Democrat, has said for months that he is mulling a bid for his party’s nomination. Politico reported last week that Stoney has assembled a team and plans to announce before the end of the year. On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason S. Miyares are widely expected to seek the GOP’s nomination.

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       A former CIA operative who recruited spies overseas, Spanberger, 44, has been considered a rising star among Virginia Democrats since 2018, when she defeated Republican Dave Brat in a longtime GOP stronghold in a suburban-rural swath of central Virginia.

       Her CIA credentials and past work as a federal law enforcement officer helped her appeal to moderate Republicans in the swing district, which she won again in a tight race in 2020. She pulled off a more comfortable, 4-point win last year over Republican Yesli Vega after redistricting shifted the district north of the Richmond suburbs where she lived.

       While in the House, Spanberger has championed some liberal issues such as abortion rights but bucked her party’s leadership at times and taken the left wing to task for its “defund the police” messaging.

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