With the gubernatorial race in Virginia heating up, the Georgetown University College Democrats and Republicans are getting involved in the campaign. Virginia’s election is seen as an indicator of national sentiment and both sides are playing an active role in shaping the state’s future.

Virginia is holding a contested election for governor this November between [Republican Bob McDonnell](https://www.bobmcdonnell.com/) and [Democrat Creigh Deeds](https://www.deedsforvirginia.com/). [A Rasmussen poll from Sept. 1 reports McDonnell as leading the race by 9 percent](https://www.pollster.com/blogs/va_mcdonnell_51_deeds_42_rasmu.php). Despite pledges not to focus on national issues during the campaign, Republicans see a correlation between the Virginia poll numbers and the sliding national poll numbers for Obama,according to The Wall Street Journal.

“It is an exciting time to be a Republican,” said Kevin Preskenis (COL ’12), chief of staff for the College Republicans, “I could not have imagined that the GOP resurgence would take place so early in the life of the Obama administration, and we are all thrilled to be involved.”

Democrats hope to swing support back in their favor following the recent controversy regarding McDonnell’s graduate thesis, in which McDonnell explicitly supported the traditional family unit and spoke out against working women, abortion and gay rights.

“GU College Democrats has implicitly endorsed Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds for the Virginia gubernatorial election. . We clearly believe Deeds is the more reasonable candidate, especially after his Republican opponent, Bob McDonnell, has been quoted as saying that working women are `detrimental’ to the family unit, and refuses to acknowledge equal rights for homosexuals and single mothers on the same level of married heterosexual couples,” said Andrew Wojtanik (SFS ’12), campaign coordinator for the College Democrats.

Both the College Republicans and College Democrats are planning to rally support for their respective candidates.

“GUCR is excited by the prospect of Mr. McDonnell becoming governor of Virginia, and we intend on doing everything we can to help him win,” Preskenis said. “We have created the campaign coordinator position on our board, who is staying in contact with the campaign to see how and where we can deploy our members.”

The College Democrats also have concrete plans to influence the election.

“We are planning weekly Saturday canvasses in Northern Virginia as well as a probable campaign trip to Southern Virginia (Norfolk area) in October. We will also be running voter drives to make sure Georgetown students, not only from Virginia, but all states, are registered to vote in any elections that may be occurring in their districts this year,” Wojtanik said. “When [Nov. 3] draws nearer, we will be heavily involved in the `get out the vote’ process, which will consist of more regular canvasses and some phone banks.”

Despite a long Republican tradition, Virginia, a frequently contested “purple” state, currently has a Democratic governor, Tim Kaine, two Democratic senators, six Democratic representatives and five Republican representatives. [The state also helped to elect President Obama in the 2008 election](https://www.thehoya.com/news/with-election-upcoming-campus-politicians-get-ready/). “