Biden stumping for McAuliffe in Virginia ahead of gubernatorial election

President Joe Biden is the latest national Democrat to stump for gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe in Virginia in the final stretch of the campaign.

Headlining a rally Tuesday evening, President Joe Biden is the latest national Democrat to campaign in Virginia for gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe, joining a long list of prominent figures in the party who've descended on the commonwealth to mobilize voters in the final stretch of McAuliffe's campaign against Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin.

Biden is set to deliver remarks in support of his longtime friend around 8 p.m. at the Virginia Highlands Park in Arlington, just outside the nation's capital. This will be the president's second time stumping for McAuliffe; he first campaigned with him in late July.

Always falling the year after a presidential election, Virginia's off year elections, in particular the gubernatorial race, are considered a bellwether for politics heading into the midterm elections. Virginia trended increasingly blue over the four years of Donald Trump's presidency, but this election will be the first measure of how lasting that rebuke of the GOP is in what used to be a presidential battleground. A loss for McAuliffe, or even a narrow win, will also serve as a warning shot for Democrats in Washington that an unpopular president and stalled agenda defined by intraparty differences could cost them their slim majorities in Congress next year.

Biden's approval is not only underwater nationally, but also in Virginia, where a Monmouth poll out last week showed more than half of voters disapprove of the job he is doing as president.