RICHMOND, Va. — Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, is bringing out the big guns as polls show the contest with Republican Glenn Youngkin is neck-and-neck just three weeks before election day.

On Tuesday, McAuliffe announced that Former President Barack Obama will campaign with him in the final stretch of the Virginia governor’s race. Obama will join him in Richmond on Oct. 23 to mobilize Virginians during early voting, which began weeks ago and runs in person through Oct. 30.

McAuliffe also called on leaders in Washington from both parties — including President Joe Biden — to “get their act together,” while pushing Senate Democrats to scrap the filibuster if needed to enact the party’s priorities on infrastructure spending and voting rights.

The harsh words from McAuliffe during an interview with The Associated Press come just three weeks before Election Day in Virginia. The former governor is facing Youngkin in a race that represents a critical early test of the Democrats’ political strength in the first year of Biden’s presidency.

Polls suggest the race is close, adding to McAuliffe’s sense of urgency to campaign on a robust list of his party’s accomplishments. The McAuliffe campaign confirmed Tuesday that Biden and former President Barack Obama would rally voters in the state later in the month at separate events.

Despite the outside support, McAuliffe has been deeply frustrated by his party’s inability to fulfill key campaign promises since taking control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in January. In Tuesday’s interview, the 64-year-old lamented the Democrats’ inability to protect voting rights against a wave of Republican-backed legislation, but he saved his sharpest comments for the stalled federal infrastructure package.