Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Rich Anderson says that he believes the energy on the ground for his party is greater than it was in 2009, the last time Virginia Republicans won a statewide race. Joe Biden won by 10-points in Virginia last year. 

“I do believe that we are going to have a clean sweep,” Anderson said in an interview Monday. “It feels very similar to 2009 and it was in 2009 that I was elected to the House of Delegates along with a substantially large freshman class. That was year one of the Obama presidency — Republicans were fired up and turned out.” 

The comparison is noteworthy due to Virginia’s historical nature of electing a governor that is from the party that is opposite of the one in control of the White House. Terry McAuliffe broke that trend when he narrowly defeated Ken Cuccinelli in 2013 to earn his first term as governor. 

McAuliffe is now seeking to do the same thing eight years later. His Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, is trying to unite his party as one against McAuliffe and Democratic control in the General Assembly. 

Polling is showing a tight race this year and Republicans say they are seeing a swell of enthusiasm on the ground. “I am seeing this tremendous enthusiasm,” Anderson said noting that he has watched since the early summer as the crowd size, enthusiasm, energy, and engagement have grown to be “literally off the charts.”

But a ten-point deficit from one year ago is quite the hill to climb for Republicans to win this November. “I am a state party chairman so I am not going to say it doesn’t worry me - it is something to be considered and factored,” Anderson said about the climb. “What we can do is focus on the future. I am not too fixated on last year.”