JENNIFER CARROLL

Terry McAuliffe outperformed even his own campaign’s expectations, winning every city and county in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Virginia governor.

Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has won the Democratic Party’s nomination in his quest for a second term in office.

In his quest for a second term as Virginia governor, Terry McAuliffe is heading into next week's five-way Democratic primary with an undeniable lead in public polling, name recognition, endorsements and money.

Black women are stepping up as Democratic candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate as the party looks to expand its footprint in Sun Belt battlegrounds.

Virginia’s lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, has long had lofty political ambitions, and despite facing two unresolved allegations of sexual assault he’s pressing forward with a bid for governor.

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is backing Terry McAuliffe in the race to succeed him, handing his predecessor one of the contest’s most coveted endorsements.

In this Feb. 2, 2021, photo, Virginia Sen. Amanda Chase and Republican gubernatorial candidate, speaks from her desk at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, Va. The national Republican Party is at war with itself, struggling to reconcile a bitter divide between former President Donald Trumps fierce loyalists and those who want Trumpism purged from their party. The party’s future success — and maybe its survival — depends on whether Republicans in competitive states like Virginia can re-create a coalition that moves beyond Trump’s hardcore base. “I like to think I’m a little more polished than President Trump. Ad“If they disenfranchise the people of Virginia, I will declare the Republican Party is dead," Chase warned.

In this Feb. 2, 2021, photo, Virginia Sen. Amanda Chase and Republican gubernatorial candidate, speaks from her desk at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, Va. The national Republican Party is at war with itself, struggling to reconcile a bitter divide between former President Donald Trumps fierce loyalists and those who want Trumpism purged from their party. The party’s future success — and maybe its survival — depends on whether Republicans in competitive states like Virginia can re-create a coalition that moves beyond Trump’s hardcore base. “I like to think I’m a little more polished than President Trump. Ad“If they disenfranchise the people of Virginia, I will declare the Republican Party is dead," Chase warned.

Justin Fairfax directs the Senate at the Capitol, in Richmond, Va. An unusually broad field is vying to be the next governor of Virginia as the marquee political contest of 2021 gets into full swing. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)RICHMOND, Va. – An unusually broad field of candidates are vying for the governor's seat in Virginia as the marquee political contest of 2021 gets into full swing. The field of announced and likely candidates in the closely watched race is more diverse than anytime in modern history. “Folks, it is time for a new Virginia way,” he said at his campaign kick off in early December. The nomination fight, Kidd said, will be a key indicator of “whether or not the Trump fever has broken” among Virginia Republicans.

The former Virginia governor is set to announce a formal bid for governor Wednesday morning in Richmond, according to a McAuliffe aide who was not authorized to speak publicly about the campaign. McAuliffe, once best known as a top Democratic money man and close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s, will enter an already crowded Democratic primary. But it’s unclear how broad his support is among Democratic primary voters today. But McAuliffe is almost certain to be the race's top fundraiser and has shored up support from many key lawmakers. Biden even gave an unofficial endorsement at a campaign rally in Norfolk in March, calling McAuliffe the “once and future governor of Virginia.”

One hundred years ago, American women gained the guaranteed right to vote, with ratification of the 19th Amendment. She introduced that amendment now known as the Equal Rights Amendment in Congress in 1923. Of course, the ERA, finally passed by Congress in 1972 only to stumble during a circuitous ratification effort, still isnt law. ERA advocates were deeply disappointed, though, when in February, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she thought the entire state ratification process should be started over, dealing current efforts a potentially serious blow. Were celebrating the anniversary of the 19th Amendment that really only gave the right to vote to white women, she says.

(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)RICHMOND, Va. A Virginia state senator is launching a bid to be the state's next governor, which if successful would make her the nation's first African-American woman to ever lead a state. I have the understanding of where we are in this moment in time, how we got here ... and the vision to take Virginia forward, McClellan said. McClellan is one of several Democrats either officially running or eyeing a possible campaign for their party's nomination to succeed Gov. If she were to win the 2021 contest, McClellan would be Virginias first woman governor, the first African American female governor in the United States and only the second woman ever elected to statewide office in Virginia. I'm not running to make history, I am running to set Virginia on the course I think we need to go," she said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A Leon County judge denied a gag order for the former employee accusing Florida Lt. Gov. "I'm not going to enter a gag order, but I'm expecting compliance with the rule of professional conduct," said Judge Frank Sheffield. The prosecution wanted a gag order for Carletha Cole, a former employee charged with illegally recording a conversation with a member of Gov. Steve Andrews, one of Cole's attorneys, said the judge wasn't happy with out lawyers on both sides were handling the case. Even before the gag order was issued, both sides agreed to tone it down.