![Election Day 2021: Virginia governor's race in spotlight as voters across U.S. head to the polls](https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2020/09/14/09bc9a4f-3be5-45a9-ae6e-9ace2be96ebb/thumbnail/1200x630g2/bc172079e3cd5fb0ffee7c20d5824217/gettyimages-1222128196.jpg)
Election Day 2021: Virginia governor's race in spotlight as voters across U.S. head to the polls
CBSN
Voters in Virginia and New Jersey are going to the polls Tuesday to choose governors while there are also contests in New York City, Buffalo and Minneapolis.
In Virginia, former Governor Terry McAuliffe is hoping to reclaim the governor's mansion. Historically, the party that wins the White House usually loses the governor's race the following year, a trend that McAuliffe bucked in 2013. Governors in Virginia are barred from more than one consecutive term, and Democratic Governor Ralph Northam kept the statehouse blue in 2017.
A Republican hasn't won statewide in Virginia since 2009, and early polls had McAuliffe with a single-digit lead. But in the closing weeks of the campaign, Republican Glenn Youngkin has focused on local issues like education and the economy, gaining momentum.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214202746.jpg)
Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a high-stakes meeting at this year's Munich Security conference to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the U.S. seeks a "durable" peace, while Zelenskyy expressed the desire for extensive discussions to prepare for any end to the conflict.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214133557.jpg)
Washington — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who hadn't yet gained civil service protection - potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214133528.jpg)
It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.