Spanberger, Hashmi Have Massive Leads in Campaign Funds
Total funding of Virginia’s major party candidates for Governor. For 2025 it is complete through September 30, with many weeks more to go. Source: VPAP, citing Virginia Board of Elections data.
Two of the three Republicans running for statewide office in Virginia this year are being crushed in the fundraising contest. Only Jason Miyares, the incumbent Republican candidate for Attorney General, has raised more funds than his Democratic opponent, Jay Jones.
All campaigns had a deadline of Wednesday night to report on their donations and expenses for the month of September. The two big events that have added some suspense to the election, the gubernatorial candidate debate and the stories about Democrat Jones’ texts threatening violence, were still in the future when the books closed.
With a billionaire Republican president in office and a near-billionaire Republican finishing his tenure in our Governor’s Mansion, one might expect at least a level financial playing field. Between the two, they know who to call. It is not the case that the candidate with the most money always wins, but there are few examples in recent history of candidates overcoming funding gaps this deep.
Democrat candidate for Governor Abigail Spanberger reported donations and in-kind support totaling $12.6 million in September (the link is to the Virginia Public Access Project’s overnight compilation). Republican Winsome Earle-Sears reported a very healthy $9 million, with the biggest difference being she received less in in-kind campaign support than Spanberger did. Television ads and mailers paid for by non-candidate committees still have impact.
Despite the good September, Earle-Sears was already far behind Spanberger based on earlier fundraising cycles. Another VPAP data compilation, this one a chart (above), shows the Spanberger fundraising total has already exceeded $50 million to Earle-Sears’ $27 million. And that is based just on the money through September. Spanberger will break the $55 million fundraising record set by losing candidate Terry McAuliffe four years ago, while Earle-Sear’s will not approach Governor Glenn Youngkin’s $52 million for 2021.
Republican financial sources continued to abandon the Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate John Reid. The $450,000 he raised in September was his best showing so far, but was eclipsed by Democratic candidate Gazala Hashmi’s $1.4 million. Her total for the campaign ($6.4 million) is five times as high as Reid’s, a far greater gap than the two-to-one advantage Spanberger enjoys over Earle-Sears.
The Republicans are running as a tight and friendly ticket now, despite the early internal (and very public) explosion over Reid’s nomination and the attempt by some to get him to step down. But the damage done to his fundraising prospects has not healed.
Much of the focus now is on the contest for Attorney General, blown wide open by the twin revelations of Jones’ death wishes aimed at the Speaker of the House and his ticket for driving 116 miles per hour on I-64. Jones and Miyares had similar fundraising months in September, $3.3 million for Jones and $3.5 million for Miyares.
Miyares’ total was swollen by a transfer from his related political action committee, A Safer Virginia PAC. Jones’ largest donor for the period was $1 million from the Democratic Attorney General’s Association. Both are raising far more than previous candidates for the office have, with Miyares so far enjoying an overall advantage, $16 million to $12 million.
The next fundraising report is due October 27, covering the first 23 days of this month. After that, no full report is due until post-election, but large donations will have to be reported to the Board of Elections as they come in and will then be posted publicly.
Republished with permission from Bacon’s Rebellion.
