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Virginia voters are choosing a governor. The election ends on Tuesday. Some things are normal here. It's an off-year election, and those elections tend to lean against the party in power nationally. Virginia's race also has had some surprises. For example, a lot of Virginia voters are furloughed because of the government shutdown. Text messages from the Democratic candidate for attorney general have shaken this race, and Democrats are saying they intend to redraw Virginia's congressional map to counter President Trump's attempt to hold on to Congress. Jahd Khalil of VPM News reports on the campaign's final week in Richmond.
JAHD KHALIL, BYLINE: Monday afternoon, the Virginia Capitol's six white columns are under a gray sky. Standing in front of them is Virginia's lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears. She's this year's Republican candidate for governor.
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WINSOME EARLE-SEARS: Well, all right.
KHALIL: A small crowd holds, Winsome for Governor, signs. But the Republican says it's not a campaign event as Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears runs the proceedings of the Senate.
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EARLE-SEARS: I am standing here today not as a candidate, not on the campaign trail, but as your lieutenant governor, fulfilling my oath to speak for the people in our great Senate chamber and to defend the principles that make Virginia strong.
KHALIL: The Democrats in control of the legislature called a SNAP meeting. It was a reaction to Trump's push to get Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps with a GOP advantage ahead of the midterms. Earle-Sears says she'd rather be out talking to voters.
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EARLE-SEARS: It's no surprise that this political power grab would come one week before an election. They want to hear from us, from our own mouths, what it is that we're about. They want to touch us and, you know, all that good stuff. And unfortunately, I can't do it. But you know who can? Abigail Spanberger is still going to be able to be on the campaign trail.
KHALIL: Abigail Spanberger is a former congresswoman and the Democrats' nominee. As Earle-Sears spoke, Spanberger was on a bus tour in Southwest Virginia. It's one of the reddest parts of the state and just about as far as you can get from Richmond. It's difficult to know what kind of effect taking the Republican off the campaign trail may have had on the race.
Henry Chambers Jr. is a constitutional law professor at the University of Richmond. He says strong candidates have a ground game, with volunteers and staff knocking doors and talking to voters.
HENRY CHAMBERS JR: I'm not sure that the candidate him or herself necessarily needs to be out there doing the campaigning.
KHALIL: Earle-Sears isn't the only one taken off the campaign trail. All 100 seats for the House of Delegates are up for election, and both incumbent Republicans and Democrats are in close races.
CHAMBERS: I imagine some people will be a little - they'll feel a little like cats on a hot tin roof.
KHALIL: Before lawmakers announced a redistricting meeting, about a million Virginians had already voted. Republicans are arguing that those early voters didn't have the chance to consider the redistricting effort when casting their ballots.
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MORGAN GRIFFITH: I submit to you they should have done it before the election started.
KHALIL: Congressman Morgan Griffith is one of the Republican members who could see their districts tilted against them next fall.
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GRIFFITH: If they put something on the table as a constitutional amendment, you had an opportunity as a voter to throw the bums out.
KHALIL: A new congressional map in Virginia could give Democrats two more seats. But it would have to go through the next legislature, too, and then on to voters in the spring. Spanberger, who has a comfortable lead in polls and a well-funded campaign, hasn't come out and says she supports the redistricting effort, but a spokesperson for her campaign gave NPR a statement. TaNisha Cameron said Spanberger thinks it's prudent the legislature keep all possible options open and that she looks forward to future discussion.
For NPR News, I'm Jahd Khalil in Richmond. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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