Biden easily won Virginia. Why is McAuliffe struggling?

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — As Terry McAuliffe made his case for the Democratic nomination for governor of Virginia this summer, he argued the state wanted “seasoned” leadership. The former governor, like the new President Joe Biden, had broad appeal that would keep up Virginians' enthusiasm for voting against Republicans, his campaign argued.

Less than a week before Election Day, even McAuliffe's allies are wondering if he was wrong.

The Democrat is locked in a dead heat against a political neophyte who is threatening to become the first Republican to win statewide office here in more than a decade. This, in a state Biden won by 10 percentage points last year.

Publicly, McAuliffe is confident in his campaign against Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin, but the finger-pointing and handwringing has begun among Democrats who are openly contemplating the possibility of a worst-case scenario on Nov. 2.

“Everybody is nervous," said Abbi Easter, who lives in the Richmond suburbs and sits on the state Democratic Party’s steering committee,

McAuliffe's team privately points to the drag of Biden's weakened standing among Virginia voters, a shift that began in August after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. That exacerbated traditional headwinds for candidates whose party occupies the White House. In 2013, McAuliffe himself became the first Virginia candidate in 40 years to win the governor's office while his party was in power.

McAuliffe allies also suggest they may have underestimated the extent to which his status as an experienced politician may hurt him in a political environment that continues to favor outsiders. Even before becoming governor, McAuliffe had been active in national politics for decades. He served as a former Democratic National Committee chairman and a chief...