Candidates are raking in campaign cash up and down the ballot this year.
The fundamentals of the election for governor still favor Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger. She's leading in the polls, and she's raised more money. But Jennifer Victor at George Mason University's Schar School says the latest round of campaign finance disclosures show Republican candidate for governor Winsome Earle-Sears is catching up.
"There's been a real shift in the governor's race where Winsome Earle-Sears has experienced an influx of funds relative to where she was a couple of months ago," Victor says. "So, it seems like there are some Republican players that are trying to breathe some wind into this race."
One of the biggest players this year is Dominion Energy. Alex Keena at Virginia Commonwealth University says the disclosure forms show Dominion is supporting a Republican PAC called a Safer Virginia PAC.
"They're giving directly to candidates, and they don't need to support PACs that have different names," Keena says. "I mean, they can give as much money as they want. But they’re choosing to covertly donate to a PAC that is ostensibly about safety when I don't know if Dominion Energy really cares at all about safety. But it certainly wants to appear that it's coming from an anti-crime group or something like that."
Campaign finance numbers posted to the Virginia Public Access Project show most of the money is going to TV commercials, digital ads and direct mail.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
