FWIW Virginia: What Went Down at Jamestown

How did Democrats and Republicans leverage organic and paid social media around the President’s visit and Samirah’s protest? We take a look in this week’s edition of FWIW Virginia. But first…

Here’s how Facebook spending by Republican and Democratic party committees and candidates in the most competitive districts compares since the primary election.

Here are the five biggest Facebook spenders in Virginia from July 23-29:

…and here’s some of the creative from the top Facebook spenders in Virginia this week. The Virginia House Democratic Caucus began its announced $90,000 digital campaign against Speaker Kirk Cox and Delegate Chris Jones, both of whom are running in new, left-leaning districts this year. The caucus launched a series of static ads to boost the name ID of their Democratic challengers and define Republican incumbents to their new constituents.

Days until the general election: 95

Source: Virginia Public Access Project

HD 42 voted for a popular GOP incumbent Delegate from 2003 to 2015 despite being a strongly Democratic district at the statewide level. The district voted for Clinton 58-37 in 2016 and gave all the statewide Democratic candidates at least 60% of the vote in 2017. After GOP Delegate Dave Albo retired, Democrat Kathy Tran managed to pick up his seat. After voting for Albo 63-37 in 2015, the district gave Tran 61% of the vote in 2017.

In a campaign press release, Adragna claimed his campaign was about “returning our district’s representation in the House back to the political center.” His paid ads, however, signal that he has no problem leaning into hard conservative positions to rile up his base. His campaign is running a series of list-building ads disingenuously accusing Kathy Tran of supporting abortion “up to the moment of birth” and that her re-election will ensure that “infanticide will become the law of the land.”

But sure, call yourself a moderate.

   

Adragna’s scare tactics still haven’t managed to raise him much money. As of his June 30 campaign filing, his campaign has only received 52 small-dollar contributions worth just ~$3,000 and only has $11,568 cash on hand – nowhere near enough to run a competitive race in an unfriendly district.

On the Democratic side, Kathy Tran’s campaign has been totally dark on paid Facebook ads in 2019, but she hasn’t needed list-building ads to raise money. As of the June 30 filing deadline, Tran has received over 1,000 small-dollar donations worth over $40,000 and has $155,341 cash on hand.

– The team at ACRONYM

P.S. Here’s a sign-up link for our national FWIW newsletter and you can find today’s issue here.