RICHMOND, Virginia--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 country's political direction and a reflection of its values.
Obama and McAuliffe, who served as the state's governor from 2014 to 2018, spoke before a cheering crowd at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond with just 10 days to go before the closely watched, tight Nov. 2 election. The off-year race is seen as a barometer of how the country might decide the 2022 midterm elections, which will decide which party controls Congress, and a referendum on Democrat Joe Biden's presidency.
Obama told the crowd the Virginia election represented a national "turning point," where Americans could either become more embattled in the divisive politics that characterized Republican Donald Trump's presidency and which culminated in an attack by Trump's supporters on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, or "pull together" to "solve big problems."
"I believe you, right here in Virginia, are going to show the rest of the country and the world that we're not going to indulge in our worst instincts," Obama said. "We're not going to go back to the chaos that did so much damage. We're going to move forward with people like Terry leading the way."
McAuliffe told the crowd the election was too important to sit out, with several key issues on the ballot. "This election is about the next chapter of Virginia and our country. ... It's about leading us out of this pandemic, keeping our economy strong, protecting voter rights, protecting abortion rights and so much more," he said.
Opinion polls show McAuliffe, 64, and Republican Glenn Youngkin, 54, nearly tied. A poll this week by Monmouth University showed Youngkin had closed McAuliffe's 5-point lead since September by gaining ground with independent and women voters.
Youngkin's strength in the polls during the first weeks of early voting has worried Democrats, who anticipated a comfortable lead in a state that has trended blue in recent years. Democrats flipped the Virginia legislature in 2019 and Trump lost the state by 10 percentage points in November 2020, double his margin of defeat in 2016.
Melody Pearce, 50, a clinical nurse investigator who attended Saturday's rally for McAuliffe, said the polls made her nervous. "After the election of President Biden I thought we would be able to exhale for a minute," she said. "I'm afraid people will not come out to vote and lose enthusiasm."
