Harris Does Another Star Turn in Tossup Virginia Governor’s Race
Harris Does Another Star Turn in Tossup Virginia Governor’s Race
(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Kamala Harris returned to Virginia on Friday night to campaign alongside Terry McAuliffe as Democrats dispatch the party’s biggest names to help in the deadlocked gubernatorial race.
“You all know that every four years when this election happens for governor of Virginia, it’s a tight election, it’s a close election and it is a bellwether for what happens in the rest of the country,” Harris said at a waterfront venue rally in Norfolk.
That appearance, with Election Day on Tuesday, marked the second time the vice president has brought her star power to the campaign trail for McAuliffe in as many weeks.
Polls show the race is now essentially tied after McAuliffe’s lead over Glenn Youngkin, a former co-chief executive officer of the Carlyle Group Inc., lagged.
The presence of so many high-profile Democrats reflects the high stakes as both parties watch the state’s contest for signals ahead of next year’s midterm elections when control of both houses of Congress will be on the line.
“I cannot tell you how critical this election is,” McAuliffe said before Harris spoke. “The stakes could not be any clearer: We have on one side conspiracy theorists, we’ve got anti-vaxxers, and we’ve got Donald Trump. Since the day he launched, Glenn Youngkin has run a campaign of hatred, division and fear.”
Youngkin, who has had few nationally known Republicans campaign with him, has emphasized greater parental control over schools and rejection of big government.
While he has accepted Trump’s support, the former president has not played a role in Youngkin’s campaign and he has largely brushed aside national political issues.
President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and Stacey Abrams, the voting rights activist and former gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, have all also appeared with McAuliffe. Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina plans to campaign with him over the weekend.
A USA Today/Suffolk University Poll released Tuesday showed the race deadlocked at 45% each, with 5% of likely voters still undecided. The RealClearPolitics average now has McAuliffe, a former governor of the state, leading by less than one percentage point, a drop from his five-point lead at the beginning of the month, and much less than he could have expected in a state Biden won by 10 points.
Harris reminded the crowd in Norfolk of the Democratic victory almost exactly a year ago. “If Virginia hadn’t turned out, if you hadn’t did what you did in 2020, I wouldn’t be standing here,” she said. “Elections matter.”
Throughout the race, Democrats have believed that turnout, particularly among minority voters, will be key to McAuliffe’s success. Polls show Republican voters are more excited about the election. While strong early voting numbers look promising for McAuliffe, Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to cast their ballots before Election Day.
At least 900,000 ballots have been cast in the state, more than four times the number of early votes cast in the 2017 gubernatorial election, largely concentrated in heavily Democratic areas like Richmond and Charlottesville. Virginia does not have party registration, so it’s not known exactly how the early votes are breaking down.
A Youngkin triumph, while delighting and energizing Republicans after last year’s defeats, would also not bode well for Democrats as they continue to haggle over Biden’s economic agenda.
A group of House Democrats from New Jersey and Virginia met privately Tuesday with Speaker Nancy Pelosi to urge her to schedule a vote on the infrastructure part of Biden’s domestic plan to secure a legislative victory for the party before their states’ gubernatorial elections. New Jersey incumbent Governor Phil Murphy is up for re-election, though recent polls show his lead is by about 11 points in the RealClearPolitics average.
The House has yet to vote on the infrastructure bill.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.