2013 Virginia gubernatorial election
November 5, 2013
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 43.0% 2.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
McAuliffe: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Cuccinelli: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tie: 40–50% No votes | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Virginia |
|---|
The 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 2013, to elect the next governor of Virginia. The election was held concurrently with other elections for Virginia's statewide offices, the House of Delegates, and other United States' offices. Incumbent Republican governor Bob McDonnell was ineligible to run for re-election as the Constitution of Virginia prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. This was the 5th consecutive election in which the Republican nominee was an Attorney General of Virginia.
Three candidates appeared on the ballot for governor: Republican Ken Cuccinelli, the Attorney General of Virginia; Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a businessman and the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee; and Libertarian Robert Sarvis, a lawyer and businessman.
McAuliffe won the election and was sworn in as governor on January 11, 2014. This was the only Virginia gubernatorial election since 1965 in which no candidate won an outright majority of the vote. This was the first gubernatorial election in which the independent city of Bedford became incorporated into Bedford County.
As of 2026, this remains the only gubernatorial election since 1973 in which the elected governor belonged to the same party as the incumbent U.S. president.