Virginia votes and a whole country is watching: The gubernatorial elections in the US state on the east coast are much more than just a head-to-head race between the two candidates. It’s also a duel between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
A year before the US congressional elections, the citizens of Virginia elect a new governor. Polls predict a neck-and-neck race between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin. The election is considered to be an important test of mood, also at the national level. US President Joe Biden has called for McAuliffe’s election, his predecessor Donald Trump supports Youngkin. Trump’s Republicans want to regain a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives in the congressional elections in a year’s time. Biden’s Democrats currently have a slim majority in both chambers of Congress.
In the US presidential election a year ago in Virginia, Biden won by a ten-point lead over Trump. In the summer, McAuliffe was still well ahead of Youngkin in polls, but the Republican then caught up and was even slightly ahead recently. McAuliffe was governor from 2014 to 2018, and Youngkin is a successful businessman. In Virginia, governors are not allowed to run for two consecutive terms. But you can – like McAuliffe – compete a second time later. The current office is Democrat Ralph Northam.
Obama warns of a return to chaos
Biden last promoted McAuliffe in Arlington and called his challenger Youngkin “a supporter of Donald Trump”. During a campaign appearance for his fellow party member, ex-President Barack Obama warned against a “return to the chaos that has caused so much damage”. Trump announced that Youngkin had his “full and unreserved support”. He called on his supporters to “flood” the polling stations in order to compensate for fraud. “Everything is at stake in this election.” To this day, Trump claims to have been fraudulently deprived of his election victory over Biden. There is no evidence of this.
During the election campaign, McAuliffe tried to associate Youngkin with Trump and a possible renewed candidacy of the former president for the 2024 election. The Democrat wrote on Twitter on Monday that the election would have ramifications well beyond Virginia. “This is our chance to send a message to the nation: Here in Virginia we are not going back.” Youngkin called for his election to send a signal to the country and the whole world.
Democratic polls are falling
McAuliffe’s declining poll numbers have also been attributed to federal politics in Washington in recent weeks – Virginia borders the US capital. Biden has long tried to get two investment packages through Congress that would have benefited Virginia voters as well. So far he has failed because of wing battles in his own democratic party.
Results of the gubernatorial election are expected on Wednesday German time. Virginia polling stations are open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. The state borders on the US capital Washington.
Source From: Stern
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