January campaign finance reports are now live on VPAP – “All candidates and committees that had registered by December 31 with the Virginia Department of Elections were required to file.” See below for top-line fundraising numbers for the second half of 2022 (you can also see cash-on-hand numbers on VPAP, but I’m focusing on $$$ raised in this post), and a few observations as well, such as:
- There is a TON of corporate money – from Dominion, Verizon, the Virginia Beer Wholesalers, gambling interests, etc. in these campaign finance reports. And remember, there are ZERO limits in Virginia, which is the “Wild West” when it comes to campaign finance laws. That includes no serious limits on these same corporations who give all this money also lobbying the legislators who they’re showering with cash – out of altruism, no doubt (hahahaha).
- There’s also a lot of money from unions, single-issue groups (e.g., Clean Virginia), etc.
- In a few key Democratic State Senate primaries, here’s how much money the candidates raised: Sen. Lionell Spruill $292k vs. Sen. Louis Lucas $256k in SD18; Sen. Jeremy McPike $193k vs. Del. Elizabeth Guzman $101k in SD29; Sen. Joe Morrissey $108k vs. former Del. Lashrecse Aird (?) in SD13; Andria McClellan $101k vs. Del. Angelia Williams Graves $133k in SD21; Ben Litchfield $29k vs. Luke Radley Wright $19k in SD27; Russet Perry $106k vs. Zach Cummings $21k in SD31; former Del. Hala Ayala $128k former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy $127k in SD33
- In a few key Democratic House of Delegates primaries, here’s how much money the candidates raised: Del. Kathy Tran $289k vs. Del. Eileen Filler-Corn $141k in HD18; Del. Kaye Kory $16k vs. Del. Marcus Simon $64k in HD13; Kellen Squire $63k vs. Amy Laufer $60k in HD55; Susanna Gibson $112k vs. Bob Shippee $62k in HD57; Victor McKenzie $46k vs. Kimberly Pope Adams $22k in HD 82; Alex Askew $50k vs. Rick James $20k in HD95
- On the Republican side for General Assembly, in SD12, far-right Sen. Amanda Chase raised $148k vs. $132k for Glen Sturtevant and $61k for Tina Ramirez; in SD27, Tara Durant raised $72k and Matt Strickland raised $56k; in SD31, Sen. Jill Vogel raised $39k and Geary Higgins raised $112k; in SD2, Sen. Mark Obenshain raised $128k and Sen. Emmett Hanger raised $64k; in SD10, insurrectionist Del. John McGuire raised $78k, Jack Dyer raised $71k, Duane Adams raised $69k. In HD47, Del. Marie March raised $25k and Del. Wren Williams raised $58k; in HD100, Del. Tim Anderson raised $52k and Del. Rob Bloxom raised $67k.
- In a few key general election races, here’s how much money the candidates raised: Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D) $303k vs. Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant (R) $332k in SD16; Del. Danica Roem (D) $166k vs. Ian Lovejoy (R) $20k in SD30; Sen. Jill Vogel (R) $39k vs. Geary Higgins (R) $112k vs. Russet Perry (D) $106k vs. Zach Cummings (D) $21k in SD31
- VA House Dems Leader Don Scott raised $389k into his delegate account and $298k into his Virginia Future Generations PAC. VA House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R) raised $438k into his delegate account and $1 million into his Republican Commonwealth Leadership PAC
- For local office, Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj (D) raised $81k; Arlington/Falls Church Commonwealth’s Attorney candidate Josh Katcher (D) raised $79k vs. incumbent Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehgani-Tafti (D)’s $29k; Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (D) raised $46k; Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor (D) raised $54k…
- Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s “Spirit of Virginia” PAC raised $1.9 million; AG Jason Miyares’ “A Safer Virginia PAC” raised $419k; LG Winsome Sears’ “Winsome PAC” raised $208k…
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