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Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger was considered a runaway favorite for the state's top office, but recent scandals and a lack of a clear identity for her party are keeping alive the chances of her Republican rival.
In the latest sign of peril, Barack Obama has been parachuted in and will speak alongside Spanberger next Saturday as polls show Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears gaining ground.
The former president's decision to enter the fray has been criticized as hypocritical after he bluntly rebuked black men for not supporting Kamala Harris during the most recent general election campaign.
'I watched Obama sit there and chastise black men saying, y'all don't want to support this woman, but at the same time turn around, go to Virginia and campaign against a real natural black woman,' said one local on TikTok.
Spanberger's campaign hit the skids earlier this month after her party's nominee for attorney general, Jay Jones, was plunged into scandal over texts he sent wishing death on then-Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Representatives.
She denounced Jones' rhetoric but stopped short of calling on him to drop out of the race, leading to widespread backlash.
Meanwhile, Earle-Seares is gaining ground by campaigning for women's safety as the transgender issue has become a lightning rod in the state after a convicted sex offender identifying as a woman exposed himself in a Northern Virginia locker room.
Thus, the race for Virginia governor has tightened in recent weeks, with one survey from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) showing Spanberger leading Earle-Sears, with 49 percent to Sears' 42 percent among registered voters, a drop from a nine-point lead in September’s Commonwealth Poll.
In a Saturday interview on Newsmax, Sears noted that if 'Abigail really believed those polls, she wouldn’t be flying in half the Democrat Party to save her.'
'You can tell more about a campaign from their panic than from any poll,' Sears added.
Obama is just the latest big-name Democrat drafted in to assist flailing Spanberger after Bill and Hillary Clinton pulled in a record-breaking $2.2 million for her at a McLean, Virginia, fundraiser on October 13.
The event, which was hosted by former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe at his home, drew more than 350 donors and became the 'largest gubernatorial fundraiser in Virginia history,' according to Politico.
Obama endorsed Spanberger on October 16 and is planning to campaign with her in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia on November 1.
His attempt to tip the scales sparked controversy online.
In a video posted on X, user @TheThe1776 called out Obama for chastising 'Black men for not supporting Kamala Harris' in 2024, but for coming to the Commonwealth to campaign 'against a natural born Black woman in Virginia.'
X user EllieKayUSA wrote Friday that if 'Winsome Sears were a Democrat, she'd be on every magazine cover & mainstream media would be extolling her at every opportunity.'
'But since Sears has an (R) next to her name, they pretend she doesn't exist, & if Spanberger loses, it's due to misogyny,' she added.
A social media creator The Black MAGA Preacher added in his own X post that 'the NAACP just endorsed a liberal white woman over the conservative Black woman running for Virginia governor.'
'The NAACP is a joke — it should be dismantled,' he concluded.
Sears is running both to make history and to continue Governor Glenn Youngkin's legacy in the Commonwealth, while Spanberger is attempting to run as a more moderate or mainstream Democrat without alienating the far left of her party.
Statewide elections next week in Virginia, as well as New Jersey, will be closely watched as political observers will hope to draw conclusions about the future of a post-Trump GOP, as well as a Democratic party searching for a new identity.