Joe Walsh is a senior editor for digital politics at CBS News. Joe previously covered breaking news for Forbes and local news in Boston.

Early in-person voting began Friday in Virginia's gubernatorial election, marking one of the first major political contests since last year's presidential race, and a likely bellwether for President Trump's policies.

The two contenders -- Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger -- held public appearances Friday to kick off the final stages of their respective campaigns, ahead of a Nov. 4 general election. Spanberger is favored in some recent polling.

Spanberger cast her vote Friday morning at a polling station in West Henrico, near the capital of Richmond. Speaking to CBS News afterwards, the former congresswoman said her campaign is focusing on the issues impacting the day-to-day lives of Virginians.

"Whether it's because you're you just saw your rent go up, or you think you might want to buy your first house, or you're trying to pick up your prescription at the pharmacy for your kid, for your parents, for yourself, issues of affordability continue to be top of mind for people across Virginia," Spanberger told CBS News.

Meanwhile, Earle-Sears Friday held a get-out-the-vote rally with Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate who is running for governor of Ohio. She heavily cited Youngkin's economic record, tying herself to the popular term-limited governor.

"We've got a lot more work to do. We've got regulations that we still need to get rid of," Earle-Sears said at the rally. "We've got more jobs that we need to produce."

National-level issues and the Trump administration's policies have taken center-stage.

Virginia is one of two states to hold its gubernatorial election the year following a presidential cycle, along with New Jersey, so the race is often seen as a referendum on the current administration. And historically, Virginia has voted for a governor of the opposite political party from the one that controls the White House every time a new president has been elected since 1977 -- a trend that Earle-Sears hopes to break.

The Trump administration's sweeping cuts to the federal workforce -- helmed by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE -- could play an especially important role in Virginia. The state had almost 150,000 civilian federal workers as of last year, more than any other state aside from California, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

Virginia lost 7,800 federal jobs in the first half of this year, and is forecasted to lose 9,300 government jobs -- federal, state and local -- by the end of 2025, the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center estimated last month.

Spanberger has positioned herself as a Trump foe, arguing her focus on affordability includes pushing back on the "bad policy" coming out of Washington and presenting plans that aim to mitigate the financial impact these policies have on Virginians.

Earle-Sears has spoken favorably about Mr. Trump, though the president has remained noncommittal on whether he will campaign for the Republican gubernatorial hopeful. Asked about Earle-Sears and downballot Virginia GOP candidates on Friday, Mr. Trump said: "I'm going to have to look at some of them. As you know, it's sort of a semi-local election."

Spanberger has sought to tie her opponent to Mr. Trump and DOGE. She attacked Earle-Sears for campaigning alongside Ramaswamy, whom she described to CBS News on Friday as "the architect of the DOGE effort, which has led to thousands of Virginians losing their jobs." After last year's election, Mr. Trump named Ramaswamy and Elon Musk co-leaders of DOGE, but Ramaswamy ultimately stepped away. Musk has since departed DOGE as well, which was followed by a public falling out with Mr. Trump.

Asked about that criticism by CBS News, Earle-Sears called Spanberger a "typical divisive politician" and emphasized her and Youngkin's job creation record.

"We are going to make sure that Virginians are told if they want a job, we have a job," Earle-Sears said. "We're continuing to create jobs."

Earle-Sears, meanwhile, attacked Spanberger during Friday's rally for the Democrat's positions on immigration, including her promise to roll back some collaboration between Virginia authorities and federal immigration agents.

The gubernatorial campaign is entering its final stretch less than two weeks after the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a college campus debate in Utah, a jarring event that has raised new fears about the specter of political violence.

The assassination has also sparked worries among politicians about their own security. A source close to the Earle-Sears campaign told CBS News the campaign increased its security at Friday's event.

Spanberger told CBS News that Kirk's death was "absolutely horrifying."

"The fact that a man engaged in a First Amendment debate, whether one agrees with him or not, the fact that he was gunned down in broad daylight because of his political activism is an atrocious reality that everyone should denounce," she said.

Earle-Sears has also denounced the attack on Kirk: "Just because he was using his First Amendment rights, he was gunned down," she said in a video on X.

Voting kicks off in Virginia governor's race -- as Trump policies take center-stage