Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe called for the Old Dominion state to "diversify" its teacher base, lamenting that the commonwealth has proportionately more White teachers – and promising a program ostensibly aimed at attracting non-White teachers.

"We got to work hard to diversify our teacher base," McAuliffe said at a campaign event in Manassas Sunday. 

It may not be a presidential or midterm election year, but 2021 has its fair share of important votes happening on Tuesday. Virginia’s gubernatorial election is clearly the most noteworthy race, but several other elections — from legislative races to mayoral campaigns to ballot measures to special elections — could have big consequences as well. 

All eyes in the political world will be focused Tuesday on the governor’s race in Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin is polling dead even or ahead of Democrat Terry McAuliffe in a blue state.

But the off-year Election Day will feature a number of other noteworthy contests that could provide clues as to the electorate’s mood ahead of the midterm elections next year.

Here are seven other races and ballot questions to watch:

Minneapolis City Question 2

Virginia will have the eyes of the political world on it Tuesday night. Most of the attention will be on the marquee gubernatorial election between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin. Less watched, but important for its national implications, are the elections for the 100 seats in the House of Delegates.

A member of Terry McAuliffe's campaign for Virginia governor emailed "kill this" to a Fox News reporter inquiring about the hiring of a high-profile attorney known for assisting Democrats in election-related legal challenges.

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe will face off against Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin on Nov. 2 after weeks of tense campaigning on education, COVID-19 and the economy. Here's who he is.

McAuliffe served as co-chairman of the 1996 Bill Clinton presidential campaign. He raised eyebrows by agreeing to guarantee a $1.35 million mortgage for the Clintons' house in Chappaqua, New York, a move that enabled Hillary Clinton to have a base for her New York Senate run in 2000. Clinton was $5 million in debt at the time.

Tuesday is Election Day in Virginia's deadlocked race for governor, a statewide showdown that’s grabbing plenty of nation attention as it’s seen as a bellwether ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

But if the final margin between former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin is as tight as the latest public opinion polls suggest, there’s a chance we may not know who wins the race come Election Night. It could take a few extra days to determine the winner in the crucial contest.

The Virginia governor’s race waded into US culture wars this week when Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin seemed to take aim at Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved.

President Joe Biden framed the Virginia governor’s race as a repudiation of his predecessor, tying the Republican candidate to former President Donald Trump as he campaigned for Democrat Terry McAuliffe in what’s become a tight and increasingly bitter campaign.

No Republican has won statewide office in Virginia since 2009, and Biden carried it by a comfortable 10 percentage points in 2020. Yet polls have shown McAuliffe tied with Republican former business executive Glenn Youngkin with the election a week away — and the president’s own popularity is on the decline.

Former President Barack Obama exhorted Virginians to support Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s candidacy for governor, warning of the dire consequences for the state and the country if he were to lose.

“We’re at a turning point right now both here and in America and around the world. There's a mood out there, we see it: a politics of meanness,” Obama told an estimated crowd of around 2,000 people on a sun-dappled afternoon at Virginia Commonwealth University.