Was McAuliffe's gubernatorial win in 2013 pretty much a fluke? Not just Obama was already unpopular by the time the election came around, the dude only won with 47.8% of the vote while the Libertarian candidate pulled 6.5%. Without the Libertarian or if VA had a GA-style runoff system, McAuliffe would have lost in my opinion.
I was about to pose the same question, albeit from a different perspective.
Virginia is an anti-bellwether state when it comes to gubernatorial elections; starting from 1977, when Republican candidate John Dalton defeated Democrat Henry Howell in a landslide, that sate has always voted for the nominee of the president's opposing party.
I thought T-Mac's 2013 victory were proof of the beginning of a realignment, where Virginia established itself as a new safe blue state. However, in hindsight, the result of that election turns out to be a mere fluke.
