Democrat Creigh Deeds and Republican Bob McDonnell are set to meet Thursday in Tysons Corner for perhaps the most high-stakes debate of the Virginia governor’s race, and one of Deeds’ increasingly scarce opportunities to shift the race in his favor.

Deeds, a rural state senator who came from behind to win his party’s nomination in a three-way primary in June, finds himself again trailing badly in most polls with less than two months until the election. The debate at Capital One headquarters, sponsored by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, is a chance for Deeds to speak directly to a Democratic-leaning region that has proved integral to his party’s resurgence.