Trump, Biden, not on the ballot, but center stage in Virginia

President Biden and former President Trump aren’t on the ballot this November in Virginia, but they’re front and center on the campaign trail in one of just two states to hold gubernatorial elections in the year after a presidential election.

In a race between former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin, which the latest Fox News polling indicates is extremely competitive with just a month to go until Election Day, it’s no surprise that McAuliffe’s repeatedly trying to link the GOP nominee to the former president. Trump lost Virginia by 10 points to Biden in last November’s presidential election.

But Biden’s standing in the state has deteriorated, according to the Fox News poll and other surveys. The president’s flagging approval ratings, along with the inability of the White House and moderate and progressive congressional Democrats to agree on the party’s massive social spending and climate change agenda, may also be key factors in a close gubernatorial race with national implications.

FOX NEWS POLL: TIGHT RACE FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR

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 it remains competitive, and the McAuliffe-Youngkin showdown is seen as a key barometer ahead of next year’s midterm elections, when control of Congress will be up for grabs

McAuliffe holds a four-point 48%-44% advantage over Youngkin, with 9% of Virginia voters undecided or backing someone else, according to a Fox News poll conducted Sept. 26-29 and released on Thursday.

“This benchmark survey of the Virginia governor’s race shows it is still up for grabs,” the poll’s release highlighted. “That four percentage-point edge is within the survey’s margin of sampling error and both candidates are below 50 percent support.”

According to the poll, Trump remains well underwater in Virginia, with a 41%-57% favorable/unfavorable rating.

McAuliffe has tried to tie Youngkin, the former CEO of a large private equity firm who’s been endorsed by Trump, to the former president in campaign commercials. And he continued his full-court press at last week’s second and final debate in the race, once again labeling Youngkin a “Trump wannabe.”

TRUMP FRONT AND CENTER IN VIRGINIA, NEW JERSEY, GUBERNATORIAL SHOWDOWNS

Youngkin responded to the effort by McAuliffe to portray him as a Trump clone with some humor.

“Terry, you just made folks in Las Vegas a lot of money,” Youngkin said. “There’s an over-under tonight on how many times you’re going to say ‘Donald Trump,’ and it was 10, and you just busted through it.”

Youngkin, a first-time candidate from the more moderate business wing of the GOP, courted Trump supporters to win the contested Republican nomination. 

But during the debate, Youngkin disagreed with the former president when moderator Chuck Todd of NBC News asked about Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged”…