(The Center Square) — Virginia Democrats are outraising Republicans for November’s General Assembly general election.
Recent reports from the Virginia Public Access Project – the most used resource for tracking campaign financing in state elections – shows that Democratic candidates for Senate have outraised Republicans by almost $9 million. House Democrats have accumulated approximately $3 million more in campaign dollars than Republicans.
Ten Democratic candidates have raised over $1 million in their senatorial campaigns, with three topping $2 million – former delegate Lashrecse Aird and incumbents Monty Mason and Louise Lucas of districts 13, 24 and 18.
Only a few Republicans have surpassed $1 million in their fundraising to date – incumbents Siobhan Dunnavant, Bill DeSteph and newcomer Juan Pablo Segura of districts 16, 20 and 31—none have exceeded $2 million.
However, in six of the 10 Senate elections, VPAP predicts will be most competitive, Republicans have outraised Democrats.
But in the four most difficult to predict (where there isn’t a discernible Republican or Democratic-leaning voter demographic), Republicans are ahead in two races, and Democrats are ahead in two.
While Republican Emily Brewer has gathered close to double the financial support of Democrat Clint Jenkins for District 17, Segura leads competitor Russet Perry by only about $38,000 out of his total $1,789,146 raised.
In the most competitive House races, Democrats are trouncing Republicans in campaign fundraising. There are seven races VPAP has labeled competitive, and Democrats have outraised Republicans in all but two of them.
Former Delegate Democrat Joshua Cole, running for District 28, leads the pack with over $930,000 raised thus far; next is Democrat Susanna Gibson, running for District 57, with more than $972,000 raised, despite some controversial news about the candidate surfacing last week.
Newcomer Republican Ennis Baxter has the most significant lead for his party among those running for competitive House seats. He’s running for District 89, which comprises part of Chesapeake and Suffolk. Incumbent Del. Kim Taylor is running for reelection in District 82, which contains the city of Petersburg, Surry County and part of Dinwiddie and Prince George counties. She currently leads opponent Kimberly Pope Adams in funding by a narrow margin of about $6,500.
