With election stakes high, even local Virginia contests draw national attention

LEESBURG, Va. - The test of whether the nation's Democrats can turn enthusiasm into tangible victories rested on a pingpong table in the basement of a home in Leesburg, where breakfast sweets vied for space with scores of election packets that dozens of volunteers gathered to deliver to homes of potential voters.

The candidate the volunteers were there to support in a race for the commonwealth's lower legislative chamber was Wendy Gooditis, one of scores of first-timers drawn to the 2017 state races out of frustration over the presidential election and the conservative bent of Virginia's Republican-controlled Legislature.

While her campaign is decidedly local, it and others like it around the state carry weight: Virginia represents a