Per VPAP, see below for graphics showing “cash-on-hand” numbers (as of 12/31/23) for U.S. Senate and competitive U.S. House districts in Virginia.
As you can see, Sen. Tim Kaine has a huge lead in “cash-on-hand” over his loony-tunes/far-right potential opponents. But let’s not take anything for granted, as the thought of having one of these extremist nutjobs replace the superb Sen. Tim Kaine should send cold chills up and down our spines.
As for the key, competitive U.S. House districts, in VA02, unfortunately incumbent Rep. Jen Kiggans (R) – who is truly abysmal and who badly needs to be replaced this November – currently has a large lead in “cash-on-hand” over Democrats Missy Cotter Smasal and Jake Denton. That’s going to need to change – fast – for Democrats to have a good shot in this “purple”/swing district (that Joe Biden won by 2 points in 2020).
In “purple” VA07, where Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) has announced that she won’t be seeking reelection to this seat, as she’s running for governor of Virginia in 2025, the cash-on-hand numbers show Democratic candidate Eugene Vindman waaaayyy ahead, with $1,094,983 cash-on-hand as of 12/31/23. Vindman is followed by Republicans Derrick Anderson ($328k) and Bill Moher ($277k), then Democrat Margaret Franklin ($115k), Republican John Prabhudoss ($100k), Democrat Brian Sewell ($97k), Republican Cameron Hamilton ($95k) and Democrat Elizabeth Guzman ($42k). So just based on cash-on-hand, Vindman’s currently the frontrunner, but obviously (standard disclaimers), there’s a long ways to go – and money isn’t everything.
In the “blue”-leaning VA10, where Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D) tragically has announced her diagnosis with a very serious medical condition (Progressive Supra-nuclear Palsy, type-p) – and thus will not be running for reelection, unfortunately – frontrunners in “cash-on-hand” as of 12/31/24 are: Democrats Krystle Kaul ($567k), Dan Helmer ($539k), Eileen Filler-Corn ($293k), Suhas Subramanyam ($242k); Republican Mike Clancy ($187k); Democrats Atif Qarni ($181k), Jennifer Boysko ($157k) and David Reid ($105k); Republican Aliscia Andrews ($102k); Democrat Travis Nembhard ($60k); Republican Brooke Taylor ($57k); and Democrat Michelle Maldonado ($38k). So just in terms of cash-on-hand, the Democratic primary looks highly competitive, with fundraising reports for the first quarter of 2024 really going to tell us something when they come out in April.
Finally, VA01 leans strongly “red” (Trump won it by 7 points in 2020) and godawful incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman (R) has an enormous cash-on-hand advantage over the two Democrats running (Herb Jones and Leslie Mehta). Frustrating, given how bad a representative Wittman is and how much better off VA01 would be with a different member of Congress.
P.S. VPAP lists no opponents’ fundraising for VA03 (Rep. Bobby Scott – D), VA04 (Rep. Jennifer McClellan – D), VA06 (Rep. Ben Cline – R), VA09 (Rep. Morgan Griffith – R) or VA11 (Rep. Gerry Connolly). As for VA05 and VA08, they’re deep-red and deep-blue districts, respectively, with the main interest being the Republican primary in VA05 between incumbent/extremist Rep. Bob Good – who endorsed Ron DeSantis over Donald Trump, and is now facing the wrath of “Trump World” – and VA State Sen. John McGuire, who is a MAGA cultist all the way…and was literally at the insurrection on 1/6/21.
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
