State Senator R. Creigh Deeds, a leading Virginia political figure who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2009, was stabbed repeatedly on Tuesday at his home during an altercation with his son, who then apparently took his own life, the authorities said.

Investigators believe Mr. Deeds’s son, Gus, 24, stabbed his father before shooting himself. A spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police, Corinne Geller, described the episode as “an attempted murder-suicide.”

Mr. Deeds, 55, was in fair condition by late afternoon, after being flown by helicopter from rural Bath County, where he lives, to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville. He was treated for multiple stab wounds to his head and upper torso.

Ms. Geller offered no details about the argument between father and son.

On Monday, state mental health officials unsuccessfully sought to find a bed in a hospital psychiatric ward for Gus Deeds, who had undergone an evaluation, according to Mary Ann Bergeron, the executive director of the Virginia Association of Community Services Boards.