VA Governor's Race Results: McAuliffe Narrowly Defeats Cuccinelli

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Published: 05 Nov, 2013
Updated: 21 Nov, 2022
1 min read

After months of personal attacks and divisive rhetoric, Democrat Terry McAuliffe will become Virginia's 72nd Governor. According to the Virginia State board of elections the former Democratic Party Chairman defeated Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Libertarian Robert Sarvis, 48 percent to 45.5 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CDohsX-slo

McAuliffe will replace the current Governor, Bob McDonnell, who soured with voters after apologizing for improperly receiving gifts in 2011 and 2012. The governor's race results follow strikingly negative campaigns from both front runners, each side resorting to personal attacks and negative advertising ahead of Tuesday's election.

Despite voter's consensus surrounding the alienating tactics used by Cuccinelli and McAuliffe, they advanced to the general election in June since neither faced a primary challenger. Only 3 percent of the state's 5.2 million registered voters cast a primary election ballot according to CBS.

As a result, the Libertarian candidate, Robert Sarvis drew new-found support from Virginians seeking an alternative and secured nearly 8 percent of the vote. He was polling at about 10 percent going into election night in spite of not being allowed to participate in the various gubernatorial debates.

Check out the district by district results below:

Virginia governor: Terry McAuliffe (D) vs. Ken Cuccinelli (R) vs. Robert Sarvis (L)

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