In July, following the mass shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, Virginia’s Republican-led General Assembly voted to adjourn a special session on gun violence just 90 minutes after it began, without any votes on proposed gun safety legislation, including red flag legislation (also known as extreme risk legislation) and legislation to require background checks on all gun sales.
Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s previously announced electoral work in Virginia’s 2019 elections includes:
- A commitment to spend $2.5 million in Virginia’s 2019 elections.
- Launching a $550,000 digital ad offensive in 15 Republican-held districts.
- Contributing $175,000 to the campaigns of Sheila Bynum-Coleman in Virginia’s 66th House District and John Bell in Virginia’s 13th Senate District to help air each candidate’s gun safety-themed TV ads.
- Endorsing 25 candidates — 22 running in the most competitive districts in the commonwealth — and making $113,000 in direct contributions to endorsed candidates.
- Contributing $125,000 to the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus, $100,000 to the Virginia House Democratic Caucus and $100,000 to Take the Majority (Democratic Party of Virginia).
- Launching $135,000 in digital ads in 14 Republican-held Virginia state-House and Senate districts.
- Unveiling results of a battleground message poll, which found gun safety to be a top issue among voters in swing areas of Virginia.