弗吉尼亚州诺福克——选举权倡导者斯泰西·艾布拉姆斯周日敦促黑人教徒在下个月的弗吉尼亚州州长选举中支持民主党人特里·麦考利夫选举，称今年最受关注的比赛中发生的事情将在未来的比赛中以更高的赌注“向世界展示我们是谁”。
自从在2018年佐治亚州州长竞选中以微弱劣势落败以来，艾布拉姆斯已经成为该党的全国主要声音。艾布拉姆斯在诺福克的三座教堂露面，与其他政治重量级人物一道，试图确保这个近年来越来越倾向民主党的州不会在11月2日回到共和党阵营。
麦考利夫是2014年至2018年的州长，也是前民主党全国委员会主席，他参观了不同的教堂，后来在一个提前投票站外与艾布拉姆斯领导了一场集会。“我们必须让每个人都出来投票，”他说。
他的共和党对手、前企业高管格伦·扬金(Glenn Youngkin)举办了一系列周末活动，包括在华盛顿郊区召集拉丁裔选民。
“我不是一个牧师的女儿，而是两个牧师的女儿，”艾布拉姆斯说，她和所有进入第二髑髅浸信会的与会者一样，出示了一张卡片，表明她已经完全接种了冠状病毒疫苗。
牧师杰弗里·冈斯穿着一件印有“投票”字样的黑色t恤，告诉会众“接下来是一场非常重要的选举。”他重复了这句话，赢得了更大的掌声和“阿门”的呼喊
总统乔·拜登以10个百分点的优势战胜弗吉尼亚唐纳德·特朗普2020年，但麦考利夫-杨金的比赛似乎即将结束。为了支撑这场竞争，他们希望这场竞争能给他们带来进入明年中期选举的动力，当该党对国会的微弱控制岌岌可危时，全国民主党人开始支持麦考利夫。
第一夫人吉尔·拜登周五与他一起竞选。前总统巴拉克·奥巴马这周就要来了。亚特兰大市长凯莎·兰斯·博茨周日参观了里士满的三座黑人教堂。副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯在接下来两周多的时间里将在全州300座教堂播放的一段视频中称麦考利夫为“弗吉尼亚此刻需要的领袖”拜登正在计划自己的访问。
杨金在很大程度上避开了外部共和党中坚分子，希望吸引对特朗普失望的独立人士。扬金没有亲自与特朗普一起竞选，尽管他们都打电话参加了上周由特朗普的长期战略家史蒂夫·班农主持的弗吉尼亚州集会。
艾布拉姆斯告诉与会者，在麦考利夫担任州长的第一个任期内，他增加了教育经费，并确保数万名前重罪犯和其他被从选民名单中除名的人恢复了投票箱的权利。
她说:“我知道你厌倦了被称为领头羊州，但我要告诉你——作为一个来自那些新近发紫的州之一的人——我们必须向你寻求智慧。”她指的是上个周期曾经可靠地支持拜登和两名民主党参议员的共和党佐治亚州。
在随后的一站，艾布拉姆斯向她的观众呼吁:“你在2021年说的话将向世界展示我们在2022年、2024年以及以后是谁。”
在信徒们聚集在体育馆的信仰拯救基督教中心，牧师莎伦·莱利感谢艾布拉姆斯没有被选为佐治亚州州长，因为“我们现在看到上帝有一个计划”，艾布拉姆斯此后捍卫投票权的工作使她成为这个国家“最重要”的人之一。
艾布拉姆斯说，当她第一次开始竞选公职时，她觉得把政治和教会混为一谈是不好的。但是，她说，她的母亲最终提醒她，“政治总是在教堂里”，她的父亲说圣经“是有史以来最激烈的政治文本之一。”
“投票是一种信仰行为，”艾布拉姆斯说。“我需要你做这项工作。”
Top Democrats woo Black voters in Virginia governor's race
NORFOLK, Va. -- Voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams on Sunday urged Black churchgoers to turn out for Democrat Terry McAuliffe in next month's Virginia governor'selection, saying that what happens in the most watched race this year will “show the world who we are" in future contests with even higher stakes.
Abrams has become a leading national voice in the party since narrowly losing the 2018 race for governor in Georgia. With her appearances at three churches in Norfolk, Abrams is joining other political heavyweights in trying to ensure that a state trending increasingly Democratic in recent years does not flip back to the Republican column on Nov. 2.
McAuliffe, governor from 2014 to 2018 and a former Democratic National Committee chairman, visited separate churches and later led a rally with Abrams outside an early voting station. “We gotta get everybody out to vote,” he said.
His Republican opponent, former business executive Glenn Youngkin, held a series of weekend events, including rallying Latino voters in the Washington suburbs.
“I am the daughter of not one, but two pastors,” said Abrams, who like all attendees entering Second Calvary Baptist Church showed a card indicating that she was fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The pastor, Geoffrey Guns, wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with “VOTE” and told the congregation that what's “coming up is a very important election.” He repeated the phrase to louder applause and cries of ”Amen."
PresidentJoe Bidenwon Virginia by 10 percentage points overDonald Trumpin 2020, but the McAuliffe-Youngkin race appears to be coming down to the wire. To shore up a contest they hope will give them momentum heading into next year’s midterms, when the party’s narrow control of Congress is at stake, national Democrats are turning out in force for McAuliffe.
First lady Jill Biden campaigned with him on Friday. Former PresidentBarack Obamais coming this week. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms visited three Black churches in Richmond on Sunday. Vice President Kamala Harris, in a video to be seen at 300 churches statewide for the next two-plus weeks, calls McAuliffe "the leader Virginia needs at this moment.” Biden is planning his own visit.
Youngkin has largely shied away from outside Republican stalwarts, hoping to attract independents disillusioned by Trump. Youngkin has not campaigned personally with Trump, though they both phoned into a Virginia rally hosted last week by Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump strategist.
Abrams told the congregations that in McAuliffe's first term as governor, he increased funding for education and ensured that tens of thousands of former felons and others who had been removed from voter rolls had their right to the ballot box restored.
"I know you get tired of being called a bellwether state but I’m going to tell you — as someone from one of those newly purplish states — we’ve got to look to you for wisdom,” she said, referring to once reliably Republican Georgia backing Biden and two Democratic senators last cycle.
During a subsequent stop, Abrams appealed to her audience: “What you say in 2021 will show the world who we are in 2022 and 2024 and beyond.”
At Faith Deliverance Christian Center, where congregants gathered in a gymnasium, the pastor, Sharon Riley, thanked Abrams for not being elected Georgia governor because “we now see that God had a plan” and that Abrams' work since in defense of voting rights has made her one of the “most significant” people in the nation.
Abrams said when she first began running for office, she felt mixing politics and church was bad. But, she said, her mother eventually reminded her that “politics is always in the church” and her father said that the Bible “is one of the most intense political texts ever written.”
“Voting is an act of faith,” Abrams said. “I need you to do the job.”
