McAuliffe meets Carlyle’s former boss Youngkin at the Virginia ambassador’s race

Democratic Party leader Terry McAuliffe is meeting former Republican general Glyn Youngkin in Virginia’s presidential election this year, a race that will look like US political belwether within a year of being Joe Biden’s leader.

Only two states – Virginia and New Jersey – are scheduled for November. While pro-democracy activist Phil Murphy is due to be re-elected in New Jersey, experts have said the Virginia race is a “throwaway” that could attract international attention.

“This is a competitive race this year,” said Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, noting that the types of ambassadors in the state, which take place the year after the presidential election, were seen as a referendum at a party at the White House.

This year’s competition is seen as an important preliminary test for Biden and Democrats Mid-term election next year, where all the chambers of Congress and most of the governments have been challenged. It will also be an opportunity for Republicans to regain the support of the few voters who have left the party out of favor with Donald Trump.

McAuliffe, who has been governor of Virginia since 2014-2018, won the first Democratic Democratic Party election to elect his party Tuesday, emerging from a five-man field. The Democratic Party’s chairman, Ralph Northam, will no longer seek re-election under state law prohibiting office bearers from running in the next round.

McAuliffe, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee as well long-term partner Bill and Hillary Clinton, now contesting Youngkin in the November election.

Youngkin, who had never been to an elected position, resigned from Carlyle last year after 25 years at a corporate law firm and appointed governor in January. He won a Republican election after a meeting last month, with approval from Trump, who said Youngkin “knows how to make Virginia’s economy more secure”.

He has a net worth of about $ 300m, and his campaign last week announced he had raised about $ 16m from donors so far, just multiplying the $ 15m McAuliffe made.

But Mr. Youngkin is fighting for victory in Virginia, the state where Democrats are he benefited greatly in recent years, driven mainly by support from former Republicans and independent voters in rural areas. In November, Biden became the first Democrat to success in Virginia and more than 10 points since Franklin D Roosevelt in 1944.

The researchers said Youngkin would have to work hard to win over the undo, but unscrupulous Republicans who were legitimate Trump support center if he wins in November.

However, history may be on his side, as Virginia in recent decades prefers to elect a party ambassador rather than the White House – except that McAuliffe won in 2013, a year after Barack Obama was re-elected US President.

“[Virginia] it is sometimes seen as one of the first tests of presidential candidates, “Kondik said, adding:” With tests, frankly, administrators often fail, because there is a long history of government voting in the White House. “