As always, we’re looking only at districts where President Trump earned between 40 percent or 60 percent of the vote – these districts could conceivably be considered competitive in November. All information from www.fec.gov/data [1].
As a note: VPAP’s figures (and others being bandied) may include PAC funding. The figures below represent just the money raised by the authorized campaign committees, as an indicator of the work and support that each campaign was able to generate on their own. While not always the case, candidates that show an ability to generate massive and widespread financial support tend to do better in elections than candidates that are only able to generate narrow or meager financial support.
Finally, these reports represent the pre-primary and pre-convention filings. Due to the various dates of conventions, some reporting periods cover different timeframes than others. This is also why no VA-7 Republicans are listed here – their pre-convention filing deadline is still a few weeks away, due how much later their convention is.
Click here for the Q1 Round-up [2].
VA-01:
(Trump 55%)
Rob Wittman (i):
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $43K
Cycle-to-date: $775K
Cash on Hand: $520K
Qasim Rashid:
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $120K
Cycle-to-date: $329K
Cash on Hand: $97K
Vangie Williams:
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $9K
Cycle-to-date: $90K
Cash on Hand: $141K (with $134K in debt)
Analysis:
Once again, Qasim Rashid is the big money winner here – raising almost three times as much as the incumbent Wittman, though he still lags far behind in the amount raised this cycle and cash-on-hand. Rashid also has to overcome a primary opponent, 2018 nominee Vangie Williams. Based on the fundraising numbers, I’d expect Rashid to be favored here, but being on the ballot two years ago could give Williams enough of a leg-up on name ID to overcome her terrible fundraising.
VA-02:
(Trump 49%)
Elaine Luria (i):
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $396K
Cycle-to-date: $2.8M
Cash on Hand: $2.6M
Scott Taylor:
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $123K
Cycle-to-date: $480K
Cash on Hand: $261K
Ben Loyola:
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $29K
Cycle-to-date: $182K
Cash on Hand: $20K (with $80K in debt)
Jarome Bell:
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $82K
Cycle-to-date: $119K
Cash on Hand: $23K
Analysis:
The only competitive district where Republicans held a primary, the 2nd District has both Republicans and Democrats reporting across the same time period. Here, the Luria fundraising machine continues to churn along, now closing in on $3M for the cycle, with most of that on hand for the general election.
On the Republican side, Taylor and Bell are bringing in real money, but all three candidates are spending it as fast as they get it, with Bell and Loyola in particular having just a few coins left in their warchest. Taylor continues to raise like you’d expect a former Congressman and front-runner to do so, while his opponents lag far behind. Bell picked up dramatically, raising two-thirds of his total cycle amount the past two months. However, almost all of that money is coming in from out-of-state, and is being spent on national fundraising services that generate slim margins.
VA-05:
(Trump 55%)
Denver Riggleman (i):
04/01 – 05/24 Raised: $100K
Cycle-to-date: $1.34M
Cash on Hand: $204K
Bob Good:
04/01 – 05/24 Raised: $46K
Cycle-to-date: $186K
Cash on Hand: $34K
Claire Russo:
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $156K
Cycle-to-date: $586K
Cash on Hand: $140K
RD Huffstetler:
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $87K
Cycle-to-date: $885K
Cash on Hand: $287K (with $72K in debt)
Cameron Webb:
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $210K
Cycle-to-date: $715K
Cash on Hand: $140K
John Lesinski:
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $41K
Cycle-to-date: $285K
Cash on Hand: $36K (with $15K in debt)
Analysis:
Presumptive nominee (assuming the SBE allows him to be on the ballot [3] on July 7th) Bob Good continues to raise roughly the same amount of money as top Girl Scouts during cookie season. Whomever emerges with the Democratic nomination will have a massive fundraising advantage.
While Good’s paltry campaign skills were good enough to win roughly 1,400 votes at a convention held at his own church, in a general election campaign 1,400 votes wouldn’t win several precincts. Needless to say, National Republicans will be required to bail Good out if they want to keep this light-red seat in GOP hands. The money flowing to a candidate who most voters know as being virulently anti-gay represents Republican money not going to pick-up opportunities elsewhere in the country. In other words, because of how terrible Bob Good is at basic candidate skills like raising money, Nancy Pelosi has an easier track to remain Speaker of the House.
I feel like this is also a good place to note that Virginia is the only state where the Republican Party allows conventions instead of primaries to select nominees for federal office. Hopefully you’re getting a good idea why.
VA-07:
(Trump 51%)
Abigail Spanberger (i):
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $524K
Cycle-to-date: $3.7M
Cash on Hand: $3.5M
Analysis:
Due to the staggered reporting periods based on the convention date, the Republicans vying for the nomination here don’t have to report for another week or so. That gives us nothing to do in this space except gawk at Spanberger’s juggernaut fundraising machine.
It also serves as a reminder to 7th District convention voters to avoid the same error in the 5th District and consider a candidate who can actually raise money as a nominee, because they’re going to need it.
VA-10:
(Trump 44%)
Jennifer Wexton (i):
04/01 – 06/03 Raised: $176K
Cycle-to-date: $2.5M
Cash on Hand: $1.8M
Rob Jones:
04/01 – 05/31 Raised: $89K
Cycle-to-date: $461K
Cash on Hand: $77K
Jeff Dove:
04/01 – 05/31 Raised: $102K
Cycle-to-date: $482K
Cash on Hand: $41K (with $32K in debt)
Alicia Andrews:
04/01 – 05/31 Raised: $137K
Cycle-to-date: $179K
Cash on Hand: $46K
Matt Truong:
04/01 – 05/31 Raised: $96K
Cycle-to-date: $109K
Cash on Hand: $101K (with $7K in debt)
Analysis:
All four Republicans stepped up their fundraising from Q1, but they’re spending it as well with the convention coming up. The incumbent Wexton isn’t nearly as prolific as Spanberger or Luria, but in a district widely not considered competitive, she’s raising what she needs to.