The Virginia's governor's race between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin is emerging as a referendum on Joe Biden’s presidency. Biden carried Virginia by 10 percentage points last year, but Youngkin’s campaign is optimistic.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, gestures as he speaks to supporters during a rally in Richmond, Va., Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. McAuliffe will face Republican Glenn Youngkin in the November election.
Voters were also poised to decide a New Jersey governor’s race Tuesday, as well as mayoral elections in many of the nation’s top cities. Also, a ballot question that could remake policing in Minneapolis, after George Floyd’s death there last summer, could have national implications.
Another name not appearing on Tuesday’s ballot is Biden’s, but his approval ratings have fallen in recent weeks and his administration will likely get a lot of the blame nationally if its party doesn’t prevail in Virginia. The Democratic-controlled Congress has yet to approve a major public works bill or a sweeping spending package that would dramatically increase government support for the social safety net — providing still more potential political headwinds against McAuliffe.
More than 1.1 million out of the state’s approximately 5.9 million registered voters cast early ballots. That’s down sharply from the 2.8 million early votes in last year’s presidential election but marks a dramatic increase when compared with about 195,000 early votes during the last gubernatorial cycle, before the voting reforms were instituted.
“It’s scary to see things so close,” said Brooke Hall-Ewell, a 50-year-old nurse who lives in Richmond and attended McAuliffe’s Monday event. McAuliffe, who preceded Democrat Ralph Northam as governor in the only state that doesn’t allow its executive to serve consecutive terms, countered by accusing his opponent of using children “as pawns.” Polls began to tighten, however, after a late September debate when the Democrat said he didn’t think “parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
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