NORFOLK — In his first time addressing a crowd in Virginia since his election, President Donald Trump embraced the power and pageantry of the U.S. Navy but steered clear of the state’s race for governor — a notable omission for a president who rarely passes up a political opportunity.

Virginia’s Nov. 4 election, one of two statewide races in the country this year, is widely viewed as a referendum on the Trump administration and a tuneup for next year’s congressional midterms. Polls consistently have shown the Democrat on track to flip a seat Republicans currently hold.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP candidate, has lagged by a wide margin in both fundraising and polling against Democrat Abigail Spanberger. Some Republicans have criticized Earle-Sears for running an eccentric and lo

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