Virginia
is one of only two states that have off-year governor's races on
Election Day 2017. Here's why the Virginia race is getting national
attention and how the "Trump effect" could impact the battle between
Republican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Ralph Northam.
Democrats have worked feverishly all
year to make nearly every local election a referendum on President Trump
– and Tuesday's gubernatorial races are no exception.
The Trump factor looms large in the
marquee Virginia gubernatorial race, where Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph
Northam and his allies have churned out mailers and ads tying Republican
rival Ed Gillespie to the Trump White House at every turn.
The Trump-referendum strategy has not been particularly
successful for Democrats in the House special elections so far this
year. But this time, polls in New Jersey and Virginia’s gubernatorial
races show the Democratic candidates in the lead.
In New Jersey, Democratic nominee Phil Murphy holds a substantial lead over Republican Kim Guadagno.
But the race in Virginia is considerably tighter. According to the latest
Fox News Poll released Monday, Northam holds a 5-point edge over Gillespie, who says there is “no doubt” the polls are close.
In the final stretch, Gillespie questioned whether the Democrats' Trump-all-the-time strategy is a sound one.
FOX NEWS POLL: VIRGINIA GOVERNOR'S RACE REMAINS TIGHT
“They’ve known they’re in a close race for some time.
They’ve been throwing the kitchen sink at us with awful and vile ads,”
Gillespie said on Fox News’ “Daily Briefing” Monday.
The most controversial of those ads was run by a
Democratic group, Latino Victory Fund. It showed minority children
seemingly being chased by a driver in a pickup truck, decked out with a
Confederate flag and a “Gillespie for governor” bumper sticker. The ad
concluded with a scene of a Charlottesville-like rally, with a narrator
asking: “Is this what Donald Trump and Ed Gillespie mean by the
‘American Dream?’”
The ad was removed after extensive backlash.
ELECTION DAY 2017: FULL COVERAGE
Other mailers boast that Northam is "standing up to Trump and Gillespie's politics of fear and hate."
This is one of numerous mailers from Virginia Democrats trying to link Republican candidate Ed Gillespie to President Trump.
It's a message the campaign stands by as polls are set to open.
“Independent groups are denouncing Ed Gillespie because
he has run the most divisive, fear-mongering campaign in modern
history,” Northam campaign spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel said in a
statement to Fox News. “It is not shocking that communities of color are
scared of what his Trump-like policy positions mean for them.”
Northam has campaigned with Democratic power players
like former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden
and even had a fundraiser headlined by Hillary Clinton.
WHO ARE ED GILLESPIE AND RALPH NORTHAM?
Meanwhile, Gillespie has garnered Republican support,
with a fundraiser hosted by former President George W. Bush. He was
joined by Vice President Pence on the campaign trail—but not Trump.
Trump, though, has repeatedly expressed his support for Gillespie on
Twitter.
"The state of Virginia economy, under Democrat rule,
has been terrible. If you vote Ed Gillespie tomorrow, it will come
roaring back!" Trump tweeted Monday.
Despite Democrats' claims, Gillespie seems to be
keeping a certain distance from Trump, while telling Fox News that he
would work with “President Trump and Vice President Pence and the
Cabinet.” He listed priorities for Virginia, like “building more ships”
and “keeping Norfolk the largest base in the world.”
“In terms of working with the president and vice
president, any governor of Virginia has to be able to work with the
president of the United States,” Gillespie said Monday. “That’s always
been our history given our proximity. I’ll be able to.”
In New Jersey, Democratic nominee Phil Murphy holds a substantial lead over Republican Kim Guadagno.
(AP, File)
In New Jersey, Lt. Gov. Guadagno is dealing not only
with attempts to link her to Trump but to outgoing and controversial
Gov. Chris Christie.
Murphy, a multimillionaire former Goldman Sachs
executive and former U.S. ambassador to Germany, said the choice for New
Jersey’s next governor couldn’t be clearer.
“On the one hand more of the same, another Chris
Christie four years of failed politics, of failed politices for the
middle class that was hollowed out and ravaged, where public education
doesn’t get funded, infrastructure is ignored, we become more unfair by
the day and we are caught in this awful us vs. them vortex,” Murphy said
at a recent campaign event. “Or we can turn the page and change.”
Guadagno’s response? She reminds voters that Christie is no longer on the ballot.
Murphy, like Northam, also has welcomed big names on
the campaign trail, with former Presidents Obama and Bill Clinton, and
Biden, at campaign events.
There is much at stake in both gubernatorial elections,
but whoever takes the governor’s mansion in New Jersey could have the
added responsibility of appointing a senator—if Sen. Bob Mendendez,
D-N.J., is convicted in his corruption trial and resigns.
Menendez maintains his innocence. But if he were to
step down, the appointment decision would have serious implications for
Trump's policy agenda in a closely divided Senate.
“With the Senate so evenly divided, the outcome of the
New Jersey gubernatorial election, if Senator Menendez were to be
convicted, could determine the Trump agenda and if it would move forward
with greater ease in the Senate," said Brigid Harrison, a professor of
political science and law at Montclair State University.
Another race to watch Tuesday is in Utah, with the
election to fill the House seat previously held by Republican Rep. Jason
Chaffetz who resigned from his post in June.