All 140 seats in the General Assembly are up for grabs in November’s election. But, not all of the races are competitive when it comes to fundraising.
Democrats have an edge in fundraising overall. But Karen Hult at Virginia Tech says a closer look shows that Republicans are holding their own in key races.
"The Democrats may be doing somewhat better than expected. But they’re not dominating by any means in most of these races," Hult says. "It does look like Republicans are coming home and donating money in the districts that lean Republican."
One trend in key races for the House of Delegates is that many of them feature one candidate taking money from Dominion Energy and the other candidate taking money from Clean Virginia. Here's Alex Keena at Virginia Commonwealth University.
"We have an election that, on its surface, is about abortion rights and individual liberties or perhaps parental rights depending on who you ask," Keena says. "But if you look at the money, a lot of this money is coming in from energy. It's a debate over what type of future we should have in terms of energy."
The biggest campaign spending hasn’t even happened yet. As Election Day approaches, political action committees are expected to spend unprecedented amounts of money in key elections across Virginia, as Republicans and Democrats battle for control of the General Assembly.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
