RICHMOND (AP) — Kentucky’s Republican Gov. Matt Bevin is set to visit Virginia in early February, in a move to help Republican Ed Gillespie’s bid for governor.
Gillespie’s campaign office announced that the two will campaign together in Lynchburg and Staunton on Feb. 9.
Bevin joins a growing list of current and former GOP governors supporting Gillespie. The former chairman of the Republican National Committee is the party establishment’s favorite in a four-way GOP primary contest.
The other candidates for the Republican nomination include Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, and state Sen. Frank Wagner. The final member of the race is Denver Riggleman, a former Air Force intelligence officer and owner of a craft distillery outside Charlottesville.
The governor’s race in Virginia is expected to be one of the most closely watched elections in the nation. Both Gillespie and Stewart are taking a Trump-like approach to campaigning and promising to “drain the swamp” at the state Capitol by curbing the political influence of Dominion Resources. The energy giant is the state’s most politically powerful corporation and has been under fire from critics on both sides of the aisle for using its influence to make Virginia’s electric rates unnecessarily high.