DES MOINES, Iowa - The Romney campaign has rescheduled a Sunday night Virginia Beach rally due to impending Hurricane Sandy.

A campaign aide said that safety is the campaign's top priority.

It is the first of what could be many scheduling shifts ahead of the storm for both Romney and President Obama. The storm has been dubbed "Frankenstorm," due to the mix of snow, rain and flooding that it is expected to dump along its path.

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Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Romney backer who is consistently out on the trail with the candidate, declared a state of emergency in Virginia earlier today, bracing for impact for the storm that if current projections hold, could hit the state over the weekend and into early next week.

Virginia remains one of several swing state that are crucial to Romney's victory in November, where recent polling has the GOP candidate neck-in-neck with the president.

The now-rescheduled event was set to begin at 7:45 p.m. on Sunday. A new time was not yet set. Other events in Haymarket, Va., and Richmond, Va., on Sunday are still on the books - for now.