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Virginia candidates make final pitches ahead of Election Day
We are now just hours from Election Day in Virginia. Races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates are on the ballot. All of the major candidates spoke at events Monday night, gearing up for Tuesday’s election. FOX 5's Josh Rosenthal reports.
VIRGINIA - We are now just hours from Election Day in Virginia.
Races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates are on the ballot.
All of the major candidates spoke at events Monday night, gearing up for Tuesday’s election.
What they're saying:
Here’s a little bit of what attendees told us they’re hoping to hear.
"Sometimes people try to federalize state elections. This isn’t about the federal government. This is about Virginia," voter Paula Steiner told FOX 5.
"Everything that is happening in Virginia, we have to continue what Gov. Youngkin is doing," said Astrid Gomez said.
"Take the personality out, the Democrat, the Republican, and look at the policy," voter Nick Crist said.
Big picture view:
And make no mistake, these may be Virginia elections, but they’ve captured the national spotlight.
That’s in part because there just aren’t that many big races in other parts of the country this Election Day, and on top of that, the Virginia races have had a lot of controversy.
Most notably, there’s the text message scandal in the attorney general’s race, where text messages showed Democratic candidate Jay Jones apparently wishing for violence against a political opponent.
That’s become a key talking point for Republicans up and down the ballot, whereas many Democrats have framed this election cycle as a referendum on President Trump, noting that, among other things, a lot of the layoffs of federal workers have impacted Virginians.
Local perspective:
As you’d imagine, Monday was a busy day for all of the candidates.
Here’s some of what we heard from current Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears and former member of Congress Abigail Spanberger, one of whom will become Virginia’s first female governor.
"I’m excited because I plan on sending an extraordinary message to the rest of the country. I plan on ensuring that we don’t just win tomorrow, but that we crush it tomorrow," Spanberger said.
"Ultimately, voters want to know, ‘do you see me? Do you know me? Do you know what’s wrong with my life and how are you going to make that better and you’re not going to make things harder for me?’ So, you know, we are not leaving anything on the field, right? We are gonna be exhausted tomorrow because we’re gonna win," Earle-Sears said.
Polls open Tuesday at 6 a.m. and they close at 7 p.m.