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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Candidate for Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe speaks throughout his marketing campaign rally in Dumfries, Virginia October 21, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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By Gabriella Borter
RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) -Former U.S. President Barack Obama urged Virginians to re-elect Terry McAuliffe as governor at a rally on Saturday, emphasizing the race’s significance as an indicator of the nation’s political route and a mirrored image of its values.
Obama and McAuliffe, who served because the state’s governor from 2014 to 2018, spoke earlier than a cheering crowd at Virginia Commonwealth College in Richmond with simply 10 days to go earlier than the intently watched, tight Nov. 2 election.
The off-year race is seen as a barometer of how the nation would possibly determine the 2022 midterm elections, which is able to determine which social gathering controls Congress, and a referendum on Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency.
Obama informed the gang the Virginia election represented a nationwide “turning level,” the place People may both turn into extra embattled within the divisive politics that characterised Republican Donald Trump’s presidency and which culminated in an assault by Trump’s supporters on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, or “pull collectively” to “resolve huge issues.”
“I imagine you, proper right here in Virginia, are going to point out the remainder of the nation and the world that we’re not going to take pleasure in our worst instincts,” Obama mentioned. “We’re not going to return to the chaos that did a lot harm. We’ll transfer ahead with individuals like Terry main the way in which.”
McAuliffe informed the gang the election was too vital to take a seat out, with a number of key points on the poll.
“This election is concerning the subsequent chapter of Virginia and our nation. … It is about main us out of this pandemic, preserving our economic system sturdy, defending voter rights, defending abortion rights and a lot extra,” he mentioned.
Opinion polls present McAuliffe, 64, and Republican Glenn Youngkin, 54, almost tied. A ballot this week by Monmouth College https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reviews/monmouthpoll_VA_102021 confirmed Youngkin had closed McAuliffe’s 5-point lead since September by gaining floor with impartial and girls voters.
Youngkin’s energy within the polls throughout the first weeks of early voting has anxious Democrats, who anticipated a cushty lead in a state that has trended blue in recent times. Democrats flipped the Virginia legislature in 2019 and Trump misplaced the state by 10 proportion factors in November 2020, double his margin of defeat in 2016.
Melody Pearce, 50, a medical nurse investigator who attended Saturday’s rally for McAuliffe, mentioned the polls made her nervous.
“After the election of President Biden I assumed we might be capable of exhale for a minute,” she mentioned. “I am afraid individuals won’t come out to vote and lose enthusiasm.”
Democratic Nationwide Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison informed reporters at Saturday’s occasion he was assured that Virginians would go to the polls and ship a victory for McAuliffe.
“On the finish of the day, it is about turnout,” he mentioned. “If we get the Democrats to end up, we win.”
The serving governor, Ralph Northam, a Democrat, can’t search re-election as a result of the state bars governors from serving consecutive phrases. McAuliffe can run as a result of he left workplace in 2018.
Each candidates for governor have dug into hotly contested cultural points to fire up voter engagement, together with abortion rights and the way faculties handle the subjects of race and racism with college students.
McAuliffe has sought to color Youngkin as a far-right extremist and align him with Trump, who has endorsed the Republican candidate.
In flip, Youngkin has advised that McAuliffe is attempting to advance a far-left agenda. A former non-public fairness government, Youngkin has centered partially on schooling – particularly the precise of oldsters to have a say of their youngsters’s education – which has confirmed widespread with suburban ladies, a key demographic.
Youngkin has walked a effective line between welcoming Trump’s endorsement and distancing himself from the previous president’s false declare that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Obama condemned Youngkin on Saturday for strolling that line, and mentioned it mirrored poorly on his character.
“Both he truly believes in the identical conspiracy theories that resulted in a mob, or he does not imagine it however he is keen to associate with it to say or do something to get elected. And possibly that is worse,” Obama mentioned.
Final week, Youngkin dissociated himself from a rally held to assist him, which was headlined by longtime Trump aide Steve Bannon and Trump himself, who spoke by cellphone. On the occasion, attendees pledged allegiance to a flag that occasion leaders mentioned was current on Jan. 6 when Trump supporters led an assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Youngkin issued a press release saying it was “bizarre and fallacious” to pledge allegiance to a flag with Jan. 6 connections.
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