New Jersey, Virginia, showdowns tonight in the nation's only two 2021 gubernatorial races

The major candidates in the only two states to hold gubernatorial elections this November face off Tuesday night on the debate stage.

New Jersey and Virginia are the only two states that hold gubernatorial races in the year after a presidential election, and thus grab outsized attention. And the contest in Virginia, once a top electoral battleground that’s still competitive, is seen as a key barometer ahead of next year's midterm elections, when control of Congress will be up for grabs.

Virginia has shifted blue over the past decade, and it’s been a dozen years since Republicans won a statewide election in the commonwealth. But with five weeks to go until the election, the latest public opinion polls indicate McAuliffe holding a very slight advantage over Youngkin, a wealthy former investment executive who's poured more than $17 million of his own money into his gubernatorial campaign.