Tomorrow morning former Governor Terry McAuliffe will announce his bid to get his old job back. He will run for Governor in 2021. While Virginia Governors can’t run for re-election they can run for a second term after sitting out a term which is exactly what McAuliffe is doing. Virginia is the only state in the US where a Governor can’t serve two consecutive terms in office.
From the washingtonpost.com,
He (McAuliffe) has chosen to kick off his bid at a Richmond elementary school, where he will roll out plans to make addressing inequities in education a centerpiece of his campaign, according to two of the people familiar with his plans. He will call for raising teacher’s salaries above the national average for the first time in Virginia history, they said.
McAuliffe is a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton and a prolific fundraiser in addition to his own substantial net worth. It will be very difficult for any candidate to compete with McAuliffe financially.
During McAuliffe’s tenure as Governor, he worked tirelessly for convicted felons, restoring their voting rights. He was also a big supporter of mass transit in the commonwealth.
Since the Civil War only one Virginia Governor has served two terms. Mills Godwin ran first as a Democrat in 1966, then again as a Republican in 1974. Linwood Holton was Governor between Godwin’s two terms.
McAuliffe is the only White Democrat candidate for Governor. He will be running against two Black women, Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy and Senator Senator Jennifer McClellan, as well as Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax who is also Black. McAuliffe’s race could be a factor for a Virginia Democrat party that has swung far to the left and is very race conscious.
