RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia legislative candidates raised more than $20 million in cash and other donations in just over two months in the run-up to next week’s primary election, according to a nonprofit group’s analysis of campaign finance disclosures.
Democratic candidates for the Virginia Senate and for the House of Delegates collectively outraised their Republican peers during the reporting period that ran from April 1 through June 8, bringing in about $14 million of the approximately $22 million total. And the Democratic candidates also ended it with more cash on hand, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in politics that compiled and analyzed reports filed with the state this week. Virginia Senate
The discrepancy could partly be a reflection of the fact that the Democrats have more than twice as many Senate nomination contests to be settled next week than the Republicans. The difference between the two parties was smaller among contenders for the House, where there are roughly equal numbers of nomination contests. Democratic candidates for the Senate ended the period with about a collective $2 million advantage, while Democratic candidates for the House ended the reporting period with a cash advantage of about $400,000. that the Democrats