With a week to primaries, money keeps flooding Virginia campaigns (2024)

If money talks, the volume is getting loud a week before Virginia primaries for the U.S. Senate and a handful of competitive House districts.

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has raised more than $14.6 million for his reelection campaign and had $8.6 million in the bank on May 29. Kaine has more money on hand than all five Republicans vying in the June 18 primary have collected.

Hung Cao, who ran for Congress in the 10th District two years ago, losing by 6 percentage points, has raised $2.5 million and had $202,638 on hand. His closest rivals, Fairfax County attorney Jonathan Emord and Club for Growth executive Scott Parkinson, each has raised more than $930,000, but Parkinson had much more money left to spend: $329,151, compared with about $35,000 for Emord.

5th District GOP

Money is also shouting in the Republican primary in the sprawling 5th Congressional District, which includes part of Hanover County and all of Louisa, Powhatan and Goochland counties in Richmond’s outer suburbs.

Rep. Bob Good, R-5th, is trying to survive a high-dollar assault by state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, and a gut punch by former President Donald Trump. Trump not only has endorsed McGuire but also appears in a television ad aimed squarely at Good for initially endorsing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Republican presidential race. The former president also endorsed Cao in the Republican Senate primary.

“That is an intensely personal fight, not an ideological fight at all,” said Bob Holsworth, a veteran political scientist in Richmond who gives much of the credit to Trump senior adviser Chris LaCivita, a veteran of Virginia Republican politics.

“That Trump ad is the equivalent of the ‘Swift Boat’ ad” that LaCivita helped produce to sink the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry in 2004, Holsworth said. “We’ll see whether Good can withstand it.”

McGuire has raised more than $1.2 million and had about $520,000 to spend in the final week, while Good is not far behind with more than $1.1 million raised but only $168,000 in the bank on May 29, according to the latest financial reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission.

But the outside spending is even higher, with more than $8.5 million in outside expenditures on advertising either for or against one of the candidates. Six political action committees have spent $5 million to attack Good or promote McGuire, led by the American Patriots PAC. Nine outside PACs have spent more than $3.4 million to attack McGuire or promote Good, led by the Conservative Outsider and Protect Freedom, a super PAC associated with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

1st District Dems

Two Democrats are vying for the nomination in the 1st District, which includes parts of Hanover, Henrico and Chesterfield counties in the Richmond area. Leslie Mehta, an attorney from Chesterfield who is running for office for the first time, has raised $188,000, with $65,384 in hand. Former New Kent County Treasurer Herb Jones, who is seeking to challenge Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st, for the second time, raised $140,867 and reported having $266,278 on hand, including money left over from his campaign in 2022.

In comparison, Wittman, first elected in 2007, raised more than $1.9 million and had more than $1.6 million available to spend.

7th District GOP

Sen. Rand Paul’s Protect Freedom PAC has also been a big player in the Republican primary in the 7th Congressional District, a swing district currently represented by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, who is stepping down after this year to run for governor.

Paul’s PAC has spent more than $1 million on behalf of Cameron Hamilton, a former U.S. Navy SEAL who also has the endorsem*nt of Good and other members of the House Freedom Caucus. Hamilton, who lives in Orange, is trying to catch front-runner Derrick Anderson, a Spotsylvania County native and former U.S. Army Green Beret backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other House Republican leaders. Anderson finished a strong second in the Republican primary in the 7th in 2022.

Anderson is also getting help from outside groups, especially the American Patriots PAC, which has spent almost $813,000 on the race.

The five-way primary has gotten nastier, with Hamilton alleging that Anderson, who practices for a law firm in Washington, D.C., is under investigation for using a federal loan to buy a town house in Alexandria while registering to vote in Spotsylvania. Anderson has denied the allegation. He has tried to tie Hamilton, who resigned from the Department of Homeland Security to run for the seat, to the administration of President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whom House Republicans impeached this year. (The Senate dismissed the accusations.)

Anderson has the advantage in name recognition and fundraising, with $1.1 million raised and almost $422,000 in hand on May 29. Hamilton has raised $721,659 and had $177,601 in the bank. Jon Myers, a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer who lives in Stafford County, has raised the most of the three other GOP candidates: about $125,000 through May 29, with less than $25,000 in hand.

“Anderson comes in with an advantage,” Holsworth said. “It’s a question of whether Hamilton can make it up in the last week.”

7th District Dems

On the Democratic side, Eugene Vindman has raised $5 million for the 7th District primary, in large part because he has national recognition from the role that he and his twin brother, Alexander, played in the first impeachment of Trump. Vindman, who lives in Prince William County near Dale City, entered June with $876,000 in the bank, far outpacing six other contenders.

But four of those contenders have the advantage of having won races before in eastern Prince William, where most voters in the congressional district live.

Prince William Supervisor Andrea Bailey has raised $338,772, with $100,000 in the bank on May 29.

Former Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, who barely lost a state Senate Democratic primary last year and sought the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 2021, raised $286,000 and had $104,428 in hand. Prince William Supervisor Margaret Franklin raised $284,000 and had $67,000 in hand. Del. Briana Sewell, D-Prince William, raised $246,691 and had $60,000 in the bank.

“There’s a bunch of people in that race,” Holsworth said. “Without the money, it’s hard to establish yourself as the sole alternative to the guy who has the most money.”

10th District Dems

The field is even larger in the 10th District Democratic primary, with 12 candidates, including six current or former legislators, a former state secretary of education and a well-financed newcomer.

Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, has the most money, with more than $1.5 million raised and $536,350 in hand, but Sen. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Loudoun, has raised $1 million, with $285,807 in the bank, and has the endorsem*nt of Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-10th, who is stepping down because of a serious medical condition.

“The money helps Helmer, but you have to say Subramanyam’s endorsem*nt (by Wexton) helps a lot, too,” Holsworth said.

Political newcomer Krystle Kaul, based in eastern Loudoun, has raised more than $1 million, more than half of it from loans to her campaign, and had $372,509 for the final push. Former House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, has raised $971,797 and had $219,000 in the bank. Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, has raised $541,589, with $95,103 on hand.

Former Secretary of Education Atif Qarni, of Manassas, has raised $363,301, with $80,430 on hand. Del. David Reid, D-Loudoun, raised $279,490 and had $16,219 in the bank.

10th District GOP

Two former U.S. House candidates are battling for the Republican nomination in the 10th District.

Mike Clancy, an eastern Loudoun businessman who ran two years ago, has the fundraising lead with $379,473 and $110,727 in hand. Aliscia Andrews, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from southern Loudoun who lost to Wexton in 2020, raised $204,332 and had $26,970 to spend. Alex Isaac, a retired U.S. Army officer who lives near Leesburg, raised $163,051 and had $22,997 in hand.