"Voters in Virginia narrowly elected Democrat Terry McAuliffe for governor over Republican Ken Cuccinelli II, who differed among other things on the future of the state's coal industry. Mr. McAuliffe supported new EPA regulations on power plants that will make it difficult for new coal plants to be bought."
"By a narrow 47-to-46 percent margin, voters across Virginia elected Democrat Terry McAuliffe governor over Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II in a hotly contested race.
On coal, the two candidates offered starkly different paths forward for a state with a long history of extracting and exporting the carbon-heavy fossil fuel. Both candidates had the attention – and money – of interest groups on either side of the debate over America's energy future.
'The politics of energy and climate change have fundamentally shifted in Virginia,' Navin Nayak, senior vice president of campaigns for the League of Conservation Voters, which backed Mr. McAuliffe, wrote in a memo Monday, ahead of election day. 'This continues a national trend that started in 2012, and previews how energy issues will play in the 2014 electoral landscape.'"
David J. Unger reports for the Christian Science Monitor November 5, 2013.
SEE ALSO:
"Obama Targets Cuccinelli's Climate Fight" (National Journal)
"The GOP's Cuccinelli Problem" (Huffington Post/ConservAmerica EF)
"Obama, Obliquely, Hits Cuccinelli on Climate" (The Hill)
"Why Ken Cuccinelli Lost The Election" (Think Progress)
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