Back in November, I looked at 2021 Virginia statewide candidates’ Twitter and Facebook followers, at which time I found the following:
So back in November, on Twitter, Del. Lee Carter (D) had by far the most followers, at 103,573, with former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) next at 70,227, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) at 31,472, Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy (D) at 18,921 and State Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D) at 12,866. Trailing all those Democratic candidates were Republicans State Sen. Amanda Chase (6,950) and Del. Kirk Cox (5,104). Clearly, the Democratic candidates were much more active on Twitter than the Republican candidates. On Facebook, in contrast, it was State Senator Amanda Chase (R) in the lead at 133,580, followed by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe at 100,935…and then a big jump down to Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax at 23,380, Del. Kirk Cox at 10,080, Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy at 8,688, Sen. Jennifer McClellan at 6,936 and Del. Lee Carter at 5,302.
How are things looking now, over three months later? See below for the updated graphics for governor, as well as new graphics for LG and AG candidates…
- Democrats lead on Twitter. Lee Carter continues in first place, with his Twitter followers up 6% since 11/15/20; Terry McAuliffe continues in second place, with his Twitter followers up 2% since 11/15/20; Justin Fairfax continues in third place, with his Twitter followers down 1% since 11/15/20; Jennifer Carroll Foy remains in fourth place, with her Twitter followers up 28% since 11/15/20; Jennifer McClellan remains in fifth place, with her Twitter followers up 13% since 11/15/20.
- Republicans generally aren’t doing very well on Twitter. Amanda Chase is in sixth place, at 8,245 Twitter followers, up 16% since 11/15/20; Pete Snyder is in seventh place, at 6,737 Twitter followers; Peter Doran is in eighth place, at 6,583 Twitter followers; Kirk Cox is in ninth place, at 6,111 Twitter followers, up 16% since 11/15/20; Glenn Youngkin is in tenth place, at 1,691 Twitter followers; Sergio de la Pena is in last place with 270 Twitter followers
- Amanda Chase would lead on Facebook, but her account is suspended. In her absence, Terry McAuliffe leads on Facebook, with 100,580 followers (flat since 11/15/20). McAuliffe is followed by Justin Fairfax, with 23,721 Facebook followers (up 1% since 11/15/20). Pete Snyder is next, at 12,766 Facebook followers; Kirk Cox is at 11,770 Facebook followers (up 14% since 11/15/20); Jennifer Carroll Foy is at 9,496 Facebook followers (up 9% since 11/15/20); Jennifer McClellan is at 7,510 Facebook followers (up 8% since 11/15/20); Lee Carter is at 6,143 Facebook followers (up 14% since 11/15/20); Glenn Youngkin is at 1,392 Facebook followers; Sergio de la Pena is at 785 Facebook followers; Peter Doran is at 10 Facebook followers.
- Democratic LG candidates generally lead on Twitter. Sean Perryman is in first place, at 16,443 Twitter followers; Sam Rasoul is in second place, at 12,166 Twitter followers; Hala Ayala is in third place, at 10,541 Twitter followers; Elizabeth Guzman is in fourth place, at 9,175 Twitter followers. Next, we finally have a Republican – Tim Hugo – at 4,522 Twitter followers. Then we’re back to a Democrat (Mark Levine, at 2,693 Twitter followers), a Republican (Glenn Davis, at 2,642 Twitter followers), two Republicans (Puneet Ahluwalia at 380 and Winsome Sears at 332 Twitter followers), two Democrats (Xavier Warren at 331, Paul Goldman at 60 Twitter followers) and a Republican (Lance Allen at 41 Twitter followers).
- Glenn Davis leads on Facebook, followed by Sam Rasoul. Davis is at 16,020 followers on Facebook, with Rasoul at 12,041 Facebook followers; Lance Allen at 6,887 Facebook followers; Elizabeth Guzman at 5,624 Facebook followers; Tim Hugo at 5,462 Facebook followers; Andria McClellan at 4,266 Facebook followers; Mark Levine at 3,773 Facebook followers; Hala Ayala at 3,636 Facebook followers; Xavier Warren at 2,515 Facebook followers; Winsome Sears at 1,328 Facebook followers; Sean Perryman at 960 Facebook followers; Puneet Ahluwalia at 806 Facebook followers; Paul Goldman at 201 Facebook followers.
- Mark Herring dominates the AG candidates the on both Twitter (43,328 followers) and Facebook (60,849 followers). Jay Jones (D) is a distant second on both Twitter (4,652 followers) and Facebook (3,947 followers). Jason Miyares (R) is next on both (1,182 Twitter followers and 3,132 Facebook followers), just ahead of Chuck Smith (R), who has 989 Twitter followers and 2,934 Facebook followers. Republican Leslie Haley has only 395 followers on Twitter and 614 followers on Facebook.