The latest campaign finance numbers are showing how the candidates for governor are spending their campaign cash.
Democrat Abigail Spanberger is spending about nine times as much money on digital ads and emails as her opponent in the campaign for governor. That's according to the latest campaign finance numbers posted to the Virginia Public Access Project. But that does not mean that voters should write off Republican Winsome Earle-Sears, says Republican strategist Jeff Ryer.
"We've gone through this before, and we've seen this before in other races. Kamala Harris, $1.5 billion inside of 100 days; Donald Trump, about $600 million during the same period of time," Ryer says. "Money isn't everything, but you have to spend it wisely when you believe you're going to have less."
One area where Sears is spending more money than Spanberger is television ads.
"Sears is also broke," says Democratic strategist Ben Tribbett. "So, a lot of people question why she's even up on television at all. It doesn't make a lot of sense. But that's the route she's taking. I think she's taking chances because she's behind."
So far, Spanberger has raised more than twice as much money as Earle-Sears. Early voting starts in September.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
