Biden to stump with McAuliffe Tuesday

President Biden will campaign with Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe Tuesday amid growing alarm that Republican Glenn Youngkin can pull out a victory next month. 

Biden and McAuliffe, who is running for his second nonconsecutive term, will stump in the Democratic bastion of northern Virginia on Tuesday in the waning days of early voting. Election Day is on Nov. 2. 

Biden is the latest in a string of Democratic A-listers who are campaigning with McAuliffe. The former governor recently stumped with Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams and will appear with former President Obama this weekend.

Obama also starred in an ad that the McAuliffe campaign released this week.

Biden most recently campaigned with McAuliffe in July, but Democratic handwringing over the race has amplified in recent weeks over a spate of polling showing the former governor and Youngkin in a neck and neck race.

A Monmouth University poll showed each candidate winning the support of 46 percent of registered voters, a slip from September when the same poll showed McAuliffe with a 5 point edge.

Democrats are eager to push McAuliffe over the edge for fear of the signal a Youngkin victory would send.

Lawmakers and strategists have speculated that a McAuliffe defeat would portend a shellacking in the 2022 midterms, when Democrats are holding onto narrow House and Senate majorities. That sign could in turn blunt momentum on Capitol Hill for a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and $2 trillion social spending package Democrats are furiously trying to pass through Congress.

While an appearance by any president would likely be a boon, Biden has seen his approval ratings drop nationally and in Virginia amid infighting in Washington, a sluggish economy and an ugly exit from Afghanistan, presenting new headwinds for McAuliffe.

“We got to get Democrats out to vote. We are facing a lot of headwinds from Washington as you know. The president is unpopular today unfortunately here in Virginia. So we have got to plow through,” McAuliife said this month.

Virginia has moved to the left in recent cycles, but the commonwealth is known for electing governors of the party out of the White House. Still, should Youngkin win, he’d be the first Republican chief executive in Virginia since the election of former Gov. Bob McDonell (R) in 2009.