Primaries for Congress are only a few weeks away, and new fundraising numbers are giving an indication of where the race stands.
Eugene Vindman has raised more than $4 million in the Democratic primary to fill the seat being vacated by Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger. And Delegate Dan Helmer has raised more than a million dollars in the Democratic primary to fill the seat vacated by Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton.
"One measure of candidate support is the ability to raise and spend large sums of money," says Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School at George Mason University. "Eugene Vindman, of course, has just completely overridden the entire field of candidates in the 7th in terms of fundraising, and Helmer, of course, stands above the other 11 competitors in the 10th District Democratic primary."
On the Republican side, state Senator John McGuire has raised almost half as much as incumbent Republican Congressman Bob Good.
"He has like $400,000 on hand or something like that, which is OK," says University of Virginia political analyst J. Miles Coleman. "But there are some other members in the delegation, like Morgan Griffith for example, who don't really have competitive general election seats who have even more on hand than Bob Good. So, this is really new territory for Good because this is the first time he's had to compete in a primary."
The primary is Tuesday, June 18th. Early voting starts May 3rd.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
