New fundraising numbers show a lopsided advantage for Democrats running in some key Congressional races in Virginia. But, Republicans have time to make up lost ground.
Virginia has three competitive races for Congress where Democratic incumbents will be defending their seats in a year widely expected to be favorable to Republicans. Abigail Spanberger, Jennifer Wexton and Elaine Luria are all raising way more money than their Republican challengers.
Mark Rozell at George Mason University's Schar School says he was surprised to see a ten to one advantage in fundraising, even a twenty to one advantage in one race.
"It's a bit surprising that the Republicans have not kept pace or even come close at all to the fundraising by the Democratic incumbents," Rozell says. "Particularly in those races where it is expected there are going to be very competitive races and perhaps Republicans might even have an advantage."
Stephen Farnsworth at the University of Mary Washington says Republicans have all summer to raise money.
"A lot of this disparity that you see right now is a result of the fact that Republicans had to fight nomination contests and Democrats didn't really have serious contests," Farnsworth explains. "And that means the advantage is going to narrow."
He adds that Virginia's redistricting process last year created seats that are far less gerrymandered and, therefore, way more competitive than they would have been otherwise.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
