WINCHESTER, Virginia—The one thing that has been consistent in covering Virginia’s off-year statewide elections since as far back as the year Republicans George Allen and Jim Gilmore ran for governor and attorney general, respectively, in 1993 is that the races really don’t start moving until September.
And when they do, they move fast.
Allen began that summer trailing badly in his race against Democrat Mary Sue Terry. Early polling showed her earning 56% support of Virginia’s voters to Allen’s 27%.
By September of that year, Allen had cut Terry’s lead from 18 percentage points to 6, according to the Mason-Dixon polling at that time that showed him trailing her 46%-40%.
Gilmore, who was running against Democrat Bill Dolan for attorney general, had also moved into a close race against Dolan.
Allen won by a whopping 58% of the vote to Terry’s 41%, marking the first time a Republican had won a statewide election since 1977. Gilmore defeated Dolan by 10 percentage points.
