McAuliffe beats Republican rival Ken Cuccinelli in a race marked by vitriol. McAuliffe, longtime Clinton family ally, held D.C. suburbs and women while GOP challenger won the gun vote.
KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS
Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe and his wife Dorothy depart after voting. The campaign has been marked by negative ads and accusations — but McAuliffe appeared to win.
The bitter brawl for Virginia governor wrapped up Tuesday night as Clinton-linked Democrat Terry McAuliffe appeared to hold off Republican rival Ken Cuccinelli.
The Associated Press and several networks projected McAuliffe would win by a Virginia slim margin of just 1% — or roughly 30,000 votes out of more than two million cast.
If the victory holds up when every vote is counted, McAuliffe won the battle after a rancorous campaign marked by negative ads and angry finger-pointing.
The economy was on the minds of Virginia voters, according to an exit poll.
But abortion and reproductive rights also took center stage, thanks to commercials smacking anti-abortion Cuccinelli on the hot-button social issue.
McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton family fund-raiser, also linked the GOP candidate to Tea Party radicals such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who engineered the government shutdown.
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“It was Ken Cuccinelli who brought Ted Cruz to Richmond two weeks ago,” McAuliffe said at a rally with President Obama.
Cuccinelli shot back, painting McAuliffe as a Beltway insider rather than the right man to lead a conservative state, but the Republican had less cash.
“I hope that Virginians pay attention to substance,” Cuccinelli said before the TV stations called the election.
McAuliffe carried the day among unmarried women and D.C. suburbanites, an exit poll showed, while gun owners and rural folk backed Cuccinelli.
Libertarian Robert Sarvis grabbed 7% with 97% of the vote counted, CNN said. Experts said most of his votes came at Cuccinelli’s expense.
