Vogel was peeved by Fairfax’s representation of what could be her albatross in this blue-leaning state, a bill in 2012 mandating that a women who gets an abortion must first undergo an ultrasound. Vogel said that Fairfax mangled the facts in speaking to the details of the legislation.

That’s when she let rip with her prickly retort, one she may have sensed only means more trouble for a candidacy threatened by an anti-Donald Trump downdraft that has intensified since Hillary Clinton carried Virginia a year ago.

Asked if Vogel’s remark was racially laden, Delacey Skinner, who produces Fairfax’s television commercials — the latest of which, a biographical piece, went up Tuesday in Richmond and Norfolk — was circumspect. “I can’t profess to know what’s in her mind and in her heart,” Skinner said.

Vogel’s comment may have been an excited utterance, consistent with those she’s dispensed in the Senate, where she is among the few Republicans who regularly socializes with Democrats. The quip also is a reminder of Vogel’s tough brand of politics, on full display during her primary fight with Bryce Reeves, a fellow senator. By turns, it was salacious and spooky.

Her crack about Fairfax notwithstanding, Vogel is usually sensitive to appearances, working to recast presumed negatives as possible positives.