Here are the big-money donors for Abigail Spanberger's inauguration: Altria, the Auto Dealers Association, Amazon, Dominion, the Realtors, Capital One and Phillip Morris.
Kyle Kondik at the University of Virginia Center for Politics says that's a who's who list of movers and shakers in Virginia politics who all happen to have a financial stake in who occupies the Executive Mansion.
"You could look at the growth in the amount spent on the inauguration for the last several governors and see it sort of going up— maybe not exponentially technically, mathematically speaking— but certainly increasing a lot. But that's not unusual when you put it in the context of other kinds of spending in Virginia politics and also in American politics," Kondik says.
Since Bob McDonnell was inaugurated in 2010, the fundraising for inaugurals has increased ten-fold, according to data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project.
"The real issue is the appearance of corruption," says Alex Keena at Virginia Commonwealth University. "Even if there is no corruption, even if someone like an elected official like Governor-elect Spanberger isn't influenced by these gifts it still doesn't look good. And it undermines people's faith in the democratic system."
He says the fix for that would be putting some kind of limit on how much money can be donated. Right now, there are no limits and so the fundraising totals grow larger every year -- with this year setting a new record for inaugural cash.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
