Former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush would be storming Virginia to solicit votes and support for their respective party candidates as voters go to the poll in the Virginia November gubernatorial election.

• Bush and Gillespie

Former President George W. Bush will hold fundraisers for Ed Gillespie, the Republican candidate, on Oct. 16 in Richmond and Alexandria.

The Alexandria event is scheduled to hold at the home of Joyce and Bruce Gates, who are former chief of staff to ex-House Speaker John Boehner(R-Ohio), and a lobbyist who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican causes respectively.

Gillespie and Bush are renowned acquaintance of each other. Gillespie served as a communications advisor for Bush’s presidential pursuit in 2000, then as chairman of the Republican National Committee in the run-up to Bush’s 2004 reelection bid, and concluded his Bush era as the senior White House counselor during Bush’s final two years in office.

• Obama and Northam

On the other side of the divide, former President Barack Obama will hold public events with Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee, later this month, with event details yet to be disclosed, says spokesman for Obama’s post-presidential office. A spokesman for Northam’s campaign said they were in the process of nailing down dates for the upcoming events.

Unlike Gillespie-Bush connection, Obama and Northam share distance in connection, but the former President has a lovely experience of the state with two successful election bid for Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) in the final days before the 2013 election, and former Virginia governor, Sen. (D), to run the Democratic National Committee during his early years as President.

• What public polls have to say

Although Public polls show Northam with a narrow lead over Gillespie by a narrow margin, the latter could beat the margin with a lavish support from outside groups.

Adegbite Adedotun