Campaigning Harris: Va. governor’s race ‘tight’
Obama, Biden plan stops in support of McAuliffe
DUMFRIES — Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to the Washington suburbs Thursday night to campaign for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe in a Virginia governor’s race that she acknowledged looks closer than once expected.
“This race is tight,” Harris told hundreds of cheering supporters in a parking lot outside a county fire station in Dumfries, about 30 miles south of Washington and part of fast-growing Northern Virginia, which has been a key driver in turning what was once a red state more reliably blue.
“And we got to make it clear, Virginia, that we’re paying attention. We got to make it clear we’re not taking anything for granted.”
Though Republicans haven’t won a statewide office since 2009, recent polls show McAuliffe — who was governor from 2014 to 2018 — in a potentially close race with Republican former business executive Glenn
Youngkin, who spent part of his childhood in Virginia Beach and graduated from Norfolk Academy.
Harris is part of a parade of Democratic stars coming to the state to try to energize their base in an off-year race the party hopes can give it momentum heading into 2022’s midterm election — when its narrow control of Congress is on the line.
Youngkin toured a Boys & Girls Club in the Richmond area Thursday. He and McAuliffe are doing bus tours this weekend as Election Day on Nov. 2 looms.
Republican National Committee spokesperson Elizabeth Ray released a statement slamming Harris’ handling of U.S.-Mexico border policy and adding of her visit: “She’ll fit right in with Terry McAuliffe’s failing campaign.”
Harris, who turned 57 on Wednesday, laughed and looked at McAuliffe as some in the crowd sang a bit of “Happy Birthday” at the start of her speech.
“You know what I want for my birthday? I want this man to be elected governor,” she said.
Harris had already recorded a video praising McAuliffe that his campaign
says will air at 300-plus churches statewide before Nov. 2. Her stop in Dumfries follows first lady Jill Biden visiting suburban Richmond last week and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams speaking at
a trio of Black churches in Norfolk — and planning to return this weekend to Charlottesville.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms also campaigned for McAuliffe, and former President
Barack Obama will be here this weekend. President Joe Biden is set to be in the Washington suburb of Arlington next week, his second swing through Virginia during McAuliffe’s campaign.
Harris said Thursday that “the president will be here and is always with Terry.”
In a statement, Youngkin spokesman Matt Wolking said McAuliffe “said himself Biden is unpopular in Virginia, so it’s got to hurt knowing he is reduced to relying on him to save his sinking campaign,” referring to remarks McAuliffe made on a video call that surfaced earlier this month.
McAuliffe chided Youngkin for making pledges to protect election integrity a top priority if he wins, saying that kind of promise fed conspiracy theories advanced by former President Donald Trump.
“We’ll have no illusions here,” McAuliffe said. “In 2020, Kamala Harris was elected vice president and Joe Biden was elected president.”
McAuliffe didn’t call the race close but said, “I don’t want you sleeping for the next 10 days. I need you on. Game on.”
At one point, Harris’ speech was interrupted by protesters and she eventually responded, “We will not be distracted. We will not dissuaded. We will not be deterred.
“This election is too important.”