Terry McAuliffe, the former Virginia governor and longtime fixture of Democratic politics, won the party’s nomination Tuesday in his quest for a second term in office.
(From AP reports) - McAuliffe will go on to face GOP nominee and political newcomer Glenn Youngkin in the November general election.
Virginia is the only state in the nation with an open race for governor this year, and the contest is expected to be closely watched as a barometer of voter sentiment in each party heading into the midterm elections. Virginia Republicans have not won a statewide race in over a decade.
McAuliffe, a longtime Democratic Party fundraiser and a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, held office from 2014 to 2018. Like all Virginia governors, he was prohibited from seeking a consecutive term. He jumped into the race in December after deciding in 2019 against a run for president.
Delegate Hala Ayala won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor Tuesday, all but ensuring that Virginia will soon elect its first female lieutenant governor — her Republican opponent is Winsome Sears, the first Black woman to receive a major party’s endorsement for statewide office. In the attorney general contest, incumbent Mark Herring secured his party’s nomination for a third term, holding off a strong challenge from Delegate Jay Jones, who sought to cast Herring as insufficiently progressive. Herring will face Republican state Delegate Jason Miyares in November. Republicans picked their nominees for this year’s statewide races in a multisite convention process in May.