Obama to campaign for McAuliffe in Virginia

Former President Obama will campaign with Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe later this month ahead of the state's off-year election. 

Obama will join McAuliffe on Oct. 23 in Richmond.

The news comes after McAuliffe's campaign announced that first lady Jill Biden and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will campaign with McAuliffe this weekend. 

McAuliffe, who is in a tight race with Republican Glenn Youngkin, made the announcement on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," marking exactly three weeks from Election Day in the Old Dominion. The voter registration deadline in Virginia is on Tuesday. 

The two are locked in a close contest that may come down to turnout on both sides. Democrats have won the presidential race in Virginia every cycle since 2008, when Obama was on the ticket.

A Christopher Newport University poll released last week showed McAuliffe leading Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin by 4 points, within the survey's 4.2 percentage point margin of error. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a "toss-up."