2017 GOP Fundraising Roundup: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General
Official Virginia campaign finance reports were posted as of yesterday evening, listing all receipts and expenditures for Virginia’s statewide candidates. All numbers reported below are aggregates of all financial activity reported by all committees under each candidate’s control since January 1st, 2016. The grand totals listed do not include funds transferred between committees controlled by the same candidate. Fundraising grand totals are also not purely cash totals, as each includes in-kind (non-cash) contributions.
Top of the Ticket: The Race for Governor
At present, three candidates have declared their candidacies for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Although rumors abound of two others, no announcements have been made and no paperwork has been filed.
Ed Gillespie – The former counselor to George W. Bush and 2014 GOP Senatorial candidate leads the pack by far, raising $851,758 this year through his Let’s Grow, Virginia PAC, bringing his total cash on hand to $1,054,998. Gillespie’s haul is varied and diverse, and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
While he’s spending money on his team and his travels, he’s also remaining cautious with his outflows, preferring to keep cash reserved. Gillespie has that luxury: he’s the only candidate who has ever run in a statewide general election, and only one of two who’s run statewide. Local Republican leaders and activists know Gillespie well from 2014, and he doesn’t face the need to introduce himself to key influencers early on.
Despite the split Republican field, Gillespie demonstrated superior fundraising momentum to presumptive Democratic nominee Ralph Northam, despite the latter’s clear field and benefit of incumbency.
Chairman Corey Stewart – Since January 1st, Stewart has raised $94,042, bringing his total cash on hand to $324,777, split between the two committees he controls.
Corey’s expenditures remain limited, and he has yet to roll out even a stub campaign, for good reason: he’s been spending his time serving as the Virginia Co-Chairman for Donald Trump, and was recently promoted to serve as Co-Chair of Team Virginia for the 2016 general election.
Corey’s general election responsibilities will keep him in the limelight for the next four months, even without spending money on his race, though he runs the risk of falling behind in lining up key local influencers if he doesn’t roll out a political operation while interest remains high during the presidential cycle.
Make no mistake, though, Corey is a proven fundraiser who brought in $1,028,116 for his last statewide run, when he was one of seven convention contenders vying for a down ticket position. The last three years have left Corey with a higher profile, and in the pursuit of this higher office, he will likely be a formidable fundraiser when the time comes and he’s ready to spend it.
Congressman Rob Wittman – So far this year, Congressman Wittman has raised a lot of money – but most of it is committed to his 2016 re-election to Congress. $56,525 was raised by his Virginia First Fund, the PAC established for his gubernatorial bid. Virtually none was spent.
Unlike Gillespie and Stewart, who are both known to local leaders and activists, Wittman has never campaigned outside of his First Congressional District. Unlike his competitors, he must first introduce himself to key local influencers, but remains busy serving in Congress and campaigning for re-election. When he spoke with Bearing Drift at length in an April interview and a June interview, he was fully policy-oriented, not stumping for votes.
Despite the slow start, don’t count Wittman out. He’s a sharp and well-respected leader with strong, pro-growth conservative bona fides and an appeal which cuts across factional divides. His negatives are virtually non-existent, a strength particularly pronounced in a convention. To win, though, he’ll need to establish a presence very soon, while attention to November keeps Republican involvement elevated. As an incumbent Congressman, he already has an established donor base available once his focus shifts towards the gubernatorial run.
The Running Mate: Aspiring Lieutenant Governors
Three contenders currently vie for Virginia’s second highest office, with at least four more credibly rumored to enter the race. Despite the potentially large field, the current three entrants are already hard at work locking up political and financial commitments for the race ahead.
Delegate Glenn Davis – Despite being a newcomer to statewide GOP politics, Davis has jumped in with both feet, building his presence outside his home district through many thousands of miles on his eye-catching campaign RV. So far, though, that hasn’t translated into fundraising power. Davis brought in just $85,831 across his two accounts, ending the period with $25,430 in the bank. Of his haul, $59,658 came from personal loans to his campaign.
With a 70% self-funding ratio, Davis is a candidate who strongly believes in his own platform of a “back to the basics” focus on economic growth and fiscal issues. To that end, he’s been aggressively spending his limited war chest campaigning across Virginia, though he has yet to make a major expenditure on the introductory mail or digital marketing needed to ensure supporters don’t falsely see this as a two-way Reeves/Vogel race – an impression incorrectly held by many Republicans who don’t know of the third declared contender for the position.
With limited resources, he might encounter some difficulty lining up local points of contact and creating a presence across Virginia’s 127 local GOP unit committees – though the race is early, and Davis has said he’s ready for the long haul.
Senator Bryce Reeves – Fresh off a major policy victory this year which protected Virginians’ gun rights against Attorney General Herring’s encroachment, Reeves has been aggressively campaigning for Virginia’s number two job, traveling everywhere, meeting key local influencers, conducting minority outreach, and raising money – $268,491 across his two accounts, ending June with $490,992 in the bank.
Although he entered the race with a healthy statewide profile, particularly after his policy victory this session, Reeves is spending his money courting support in every corner of the Commonwealth and building his organization up early – and has the cash to increase the pace as the race moves forward.
Although Reeves didn’t win the money race, he’s rolled out an impressively robust list of legislative endorsements, giving his campaign key inroads across Virginia as it works to build local grassroots support.
Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel – To little surprise, Vogel is currently winning the LG money race, raising $549,423 across her two accounts, ending June with $532,881 in the bank. This haul is the field’s strongest fundraising effort, by far, even if one excludes the sizable $101,000 in contributions from family. Given the breadth of her donor base, this race-leading pace is unlikely to let up any time soon. Combined with a conservative legislative record, and a vision for building a Republican party ready to win again, Vogel’s cash haul positions her as a formidable contender.
Thus far, her spending has remained very cautious as she travels the Commonwealth, though she can afford to be a bit reserved in her expenditures, as most local leaders and activists know she’s running. Already, her network has been working diligently to line up local support while she stockpiles cash for a race whose parameters and field are not yet fully known.
When her campaign does enter the next phase, she’ll likely dominate with the strongest message weight in her paid communications, leaving few stones unturned in the search for votes.
Constitutional Defender & Crime Fighter: The Attorney General
Three men currently are currently seeking the Republican nomination to be the top attorney to the people of Virginia. Unlike the two up ballot races, no other potential entrants are credibly rumored to be eyeing a run at this position.
John Adams – Despite being a political newcomer, Adams made his entrance to Virginia’s Republican scene with a robust fundraising haul suggestive of a strong and well-funded campaign to come. In 2016, Adams raised $431,859, including $81,000 from the Gottwald family and another $120,600 from his colleagues at McGuireWoods. Those sources can easily increase their commitments, providing Adams all the money he’ll need if the nomination should be by convention, and sparing him from the time-consuming task of small dollar fundraising – giving him all the more time to devote to building up political support.
Being a newcomer, though, Adams had to aggressively spend his haul introducing himself and his platform to key influencers and GOP activists, a task his campaign has been adept at performing. Adams has already built up a sizeable ground organization and his campaign has a presence at Republican events across the Commonwealth.
Adams ended June with $260,761 cash in the bank after spending $154,858 hitting the ground running – an investment which, by all indications, appears to be money well spent. Although he’s not leading in cash on hand, his campaign has met its short-term objectives, and Adams’ fundraising report demonstrates he can easily raise more money when he needs it.
Delegate Rob Bell – Fundraising King Rob Bell began 2016 with almost enough money to bankroll a convention run in 2017, and despite a near-constant schedule on the road, raised $186,868 to add to his total, leaving him with $766,374 in the bank – second only to Ed Gillespie among Republican statewide candidates. The depth and giving capacity of Rob’s donor base ensures that money will be available when he needs it, even if the nomination should be by primary, without him getting bogged down chasing every small donation – not that grinding out phone calls would slow down the hardest working officeholder in Virginia.
Despite his huge war chest, Bell has been reserved about spending his money early in the race, preferring to save it for when the race begins to heat up – a luxury he can afford due to his near-universal name recognition and very high favorability among local leaders and grassroots Republican activists. Rob has used his cash cushion and goodwill inherited from 2013 to focus on traveling Virginia and meeting with Republicans, confident he can always raise more for his nomination bid should he need it. Late last year, Bell registered over 77% support in a poll of potential convention goers, with only 2% definitely opposed. Bell can’t take this race for granted, though, and he’ll need to begin spending soon, even if not as soon as some of his competitors.
Chuck Smith – As of publication, no record could be found of any recent campaign finance filing by Chuck Smith. His last report from 2015, which was filed four days late, listed $0 raised and $0 cash on hand. While Smith may be the strongest speaker of the three, the available reports don’t speak to much of a campaign apart from event appearances.
