Terry McAuliffe (D) told CNN that “fatigue and exhaustion from Trump” has clearly been an issue for Democrats in the Virginia governor’s race.

He added he does wish “from a political perspective” that Trump still had access to his Twitter account.

“For months as he campaigned for governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin tried to sound a lot like the kind of Republican who dominated the party back in 2009 — the last time a Republican was elected to statewide office,” the New York Times reports.

“He avoided discussion of divisive social issues in favor of praise of free markets and job creators, and conservative activists knew very little about him or what he believed as a result.”

“In the final days before the election on Tuesday, many Republicans say they still have no idea what Mr. Youngkin really believes. But they have cheered him on regardless, after he took a hard-right turn and began promoting the causes that are animating conservatives and supporters of the former president, from the debate over teaching the impact of racism to transgender rights in schools.”

“Donald Trump plans to hold a tele-rally for Republican Glenn Youngkin on Monday night, a day before the Virginia gubernatorial election,” Bloomberg reports.

“The former president on Wednesday teased the possibility that he would campaign in Virginia before the election, but will do the tele-rally, typically a call with supporters to generate support for the candidate.”

First Read: “For McAuliffe, that edge has been the state’s incredibly long early-voting period, which began back on Sept. 17. In a state where Biden voters outnumber Trump voters by 450,000 Virginians, having nearly two months to know which voters have already cast ballots — and which ones haven’t — is a big asset for Democrats and the McAuliffe campaign.”

“For Youngkin, his big potential advantage is left-leaning third-party candidate Princess Blanding, who sits at 1 percent in that Wason Center poll. The potential 30,000 or so votes she gets could end up deciding who wins and loses in this close race.”

“A new ad for Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign features a Fairfax parent who sought to have Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison’s 1987 classic novel Beloved removed from her son’s school curriculum because it gave him nightmares,” Insider reports.

“Murphy, however, does not mention in the ad that her son was a high school senior at the time and that the book in question, assigned as part of his Advanced Placement English curriculum, was Beloved, the vivid and wrenching novel about slavery in America that won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.”

A new USA Today/Suffolk poll in Virginia shows Terry McAuliffe (D) and Glenn Youngkin (R) tied in the race for governor, 45% to 45%.

A new Data for Progress poll in Virginia finds Terry McAuliffe (D) leading Glenn Youngkin (R) in the race for governor, 50% to 45%.

Harry Enten: “You can see how closely feelings toward Trump and vote choice align by looking at the crosstabs of the Fox News poll. On a scale of -1 to +1, the correlation across demographic groups between Trump’s unfavorable rating and McAuliffe’s standing in the horse race was over +0.98. You rarely get that type of correlation between the popularity of an out-of-office politician and vote choice. It’s nearly the same as Biden’s popularity and vote choice (over +0.99 correlation).”

“Indeed, a CBS News/YouGov poll from Virginia shows just how motivating a factor Trump is in whether voters cast a ballot. A majority of likely voters (51%) said feelings about Trump were very motivating. That’s basically the same as the 48% who said the same thing about their feelings toward Biden.”

“Separate polling from a Monmouth University poll in August showed that about the same share of Virginia voters indicated that Trump was a major factor in their 2021 vote as they did in 2017.”

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin (R) “is facing allegations of antisemitism after accusing allies of Jewish philanthropist George Soros of a shadowy campaign to place secret political operatives onto Virginia school boards,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Youngkin: “The present chaos in our schools lays squarely at the feet of 40-year politician Terry McAuliffe. It just does. But also at George Soros-backed allies, these allies that are in the left, liberal progressive movement. They’ve inserted political operatives into our school system disguised as school boards.”

A new Monmouth poll in Virginia finds Terry McAuliffe (D) and Glenn Youngkin (R) in a dead heat among registered voters, 46% to 46%.

A range of probabilistic likely electorate models shows a potential outcome – if the election was held today – of anywhere from a 3-point lead for McAuliffe (48% to 45%) to a 3-point lead for Youngkin (48% to 45%).

This is the first time the Republican has held a lead in Monmouth polls this cycle.

Said pollster Patrick Murray: “Suburban women, especially in Northern Virginia, have been crucial to the sizable victories Democrats have enjoyed in the commonwealth since 2017. However, their support is not registering at the same level this time around.”

Rudy Giuliani put out an attack video against Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe (D) featuring himself disguised as Abraham Lincoln using an augmented reality filter.

“Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe on Thursday,” CNN reports.

“Harris will headline an evening rally on Thursday in Prince William County, the most diverse county in the commonwealth, according to the 2020 census. Democrats in Virginia are hopeful that the vice president will be able to engage key Democratic voters ahead of the November 2 election.”

Glenn Youngkin (R) wouldn’t say whether he wants former President Donald Trump to campaign for him in the final weeks of Virginia’s gubernatorial election and distanced himself from a controversial right-wing rally supporting his candidacy the night before, NBC News reports.

A new CBS News poll in Virginia finds Terry McAuliffe (D) leading Glenn Youngkin (R) in the race for governor, 51% to 47%.

“Former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is set to hit the campaign trail with former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) in his bid for a second term as governor of the Old Dominion,” The Hill reports.

A new Wason Center poll in Virginia finds Terry McAuliffe (D) leading Glenn Youngkin (R) in the race for governor, 49% to 45% among likely voters.

This represents a tightening in the race since our August when McAuliffe has a 9-point lead.

Key finding: Republican likely voters are more enthusiastic about voting in this election than Democratic likely voters (61% to 55% very enthusiastic).