Youngkin raises big money, but Democrats have edge in Va. campaign cash
RICHMOND — Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) raised a record-smashing amount of money with his Spirit of Virginia political action committee during the first quarter of the year, but Democratic candidates have an early fundraising edge over Republicans running for General Assembly seats, according to campaign finance documents filed by a Monday night deadline.
All 140 spots in the legislature are on the ballot this fall, with control of both the Senate and the House of Delegates at stake. A new set of political boundaries has sparked a wave of turnover in both chambers; some 30 percent of lawmakers overall are either retiring or running for a different office.
Incumbents were prohibited by state law from fundraising while the General Assembly was in session in January and February, but campaign cash is already flowing freely as Republicans try to defend their slim majority in the House and Democrats guard a narrow margin in the Senate.
Candidates for this fall’s legislative elections have raised a total of about $37 million, up 50 percent from the same period four years ago, the last time the full General Assembly was up for election, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.
Youngkin, who is still mentioned as a potential 2024 presidential hopeful and last year traveled around the country helping GOP gubernatorial candidates, has vowed to focus on helping Republicans win full control of the legislature. Democrats are running just as hard to block him, arguing that they could prevent him from enacting a GOP agenda that includes tighter limits on access to abortion and deeper tax cuts that Democrats say would harm the state budget.
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