Voters in Virginia will choose a new governor Tuesday. Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, is running for his seat again, while Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin is a first-time candidate.

Transcript

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Voters are going to choose a new governor of Virginia on Tuesday, but Democrats are having to play defense in a state that President Biden won by 10 points. Polls show the race between Republican Glenn Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe is in a dead heat. Here's Ben Paviour from member station VPM.

BEN PAVIOUR, BYLINE: McKenney, Va., is an hour south of Richmond, where the suburbs give way to farms. Or, as longtime resident Alan Mullis tells it...

ALAN MULLIS: I mean, this place is in the middle of the boondocks.

PAVIOUR: Mullis is flattered that Glenn Youngkin parked his bus outside the Flat Rock Country Store. It's a bend-in-the-road pit stop selling biscuits and hams. Mullis, who has leukemia, delayed his chemo treatment to come to this event.

MULLIS: That's how important it is to me to meet Glenn Youngkin. So thank God for somebody like him running for office.

PAVIOUR: Mullis likes Youngkin's backing of law enforcement. But for many supporters here, it's the mood as much as the message. The first-time politician brings celebrity energy in a fleece vest and cowboy boots. Supporters sign his tour bus and snap photos.

GLENN YOUNGKIN: All right, where's your camera? Right here?

PAVIOUR: Youngkin has directed his closing message at parents. He's channeled conservative outrage over critical race theory, which is not taught in Virginia schools.

YOUNGKIN: It's not Republicans against Democrats anymore. This is Virginians standing up for our rights and particularly for the rights of our kids.

PAVIOUR: It's a message he often takes to Fox News and a shift from earlier in his campaign, when he focused on the Trumpian theme of election integrity. Still, the former private equity CEO denies this race is about national politics.

YOUNGKIN: Well, I don't know about everybody else, but if you look at the ballot today, what it says on it is Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Cheering).

YOUNGKIN: That's what it says.

PAVIOUR: Well, there is a third name - third-party candidate Princess Blanding - but it's Youngkin and McAuliffe who are raising the big bucks. On Tuesday, McAuliffe campaigned with his old friend, President Biden. The president repeatedly connected Youngkin to Trump, who has endorsed the businessman.

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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Extremism can come in many forms, can come in the rage of a mob driven in an assault - driven to assault the Capitol. It can come in a smile and a fleece vest.

PAVIOUR: McAuliffe has brought in a number of heavy hitters, ranging from former President Barack Obama...

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BARACK OBAMA: This guy is the Energizer Bunny. He does not sleep. He does not stop.

PAVIOUR: ...To musician Dave Matthews.

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DAVE MATTHEWS: (Singing) So then save me, save me, Mr. Walking Man.

PAVIOUR: For Democrats, the stakes are high. Losing Virginia would be a bad omen for next year's midterms. They haven't lost a statewide election since 2009. McAuliffe says he always knew it would be close.

TERRY MCAULIFFE: I remind you, for 44 straight years, the party that wins the White House, the other party wins the governor's mansion.

PAVIOUR: The lone exception to that rule was McAuliffe, who won a tight governor's race in Virginia in 2013.

MCAULIFFE: I was governor before - got us out of a horrible financial mess, created a record amount of 200,000 new jobs, made the state open and welcoming.

PAVIOUR: McAuliffe's yard signs are a hot commodity on a windy day at an early voting location in Henrico County, just outside of Richmond.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I thought you'd be gone. I said, oh, I missed them.

ELIZABETH BALASCHAK: No, we're still here.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oh, thank you.

PAVIOUR: Elizabeth Balaschak is staffing a Democratic table. She just moved here from Florida, drawn by Virginia's increasingly blue tint. Backlash to Trump in these Richmond suburbs helped Democrats flip the state legislature. They passed a slew of laws, like raising the minimum wage.

BALASCHAK: My concern is if it starts to go towards Florida, I know a lot of people who moved out of Florida in the last few years because of the way the state's going.

PAVIOUR: Now Virginia Democrats have to defend not just the governor's seat but their hold on the House of Delegates.

For NPR News, I'm Ben Paviour in Richmond.

(SOUNDBITE OF MATTHRE HALSALL'S "THE END OF DUKKHA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.