Va. delegate candidates raise $5M in 1st quarter
The tally comes amid what promises to be an expensive statehouse battle, fueled by federal layoffs and anger at Washington
The 297 candidates for Virginia's House of Delegates have collectively raised $18.5 million in the first 15 months of the election cycle, according to new reports from the Virginia Public Access Project.
Democrats outraised Republicans in the first quarter of the election year with a total of $3.7 million from January 1st to March 31st, more than double Republicans' $1.5 million, according to VPAP.
Three of the top 10 highest earners are unchallenged incumbents in strongly Democratic areas, including House Speaker Don Scott, who has raised more than any other candidate so far.
Of the 10 best-funded candidates, four are running in competitive districts. In Virginia’s House District 82, a largely Black district which covers much of Petersburg and the area around Fort Gregg-Adams, Republican incumbent Kim Taylor and Democratic candidate Kimberly Pope Adams are headed for a rematch.
In 2023, Taylor beat Adams by only 53 votes.
The two squared off in an intense political ad battle in their last election, with each candidate spending over $1 million in ads. Much like her margin of victory, Taylor narrowly outspent Adams by $100,000 two years ago. The district's election was the third most expensive in Virginia House history, behind the races for HD65 and HD97 in 2023.
John McAuliff is challenging Republican incumbent Geary Higgins for the predominantly rural House District 30. He owns a bed-and-breakfast and worked for former president Joe Biden's Office of Clean Energy Innovation & Implementation before running for office this year.
McAuliff said he will not accept any corporate funding from publicly regulated Virginia utility companies, such as Dominion Energy, for his campaign, believing it to be a conflict of interest. Despite this, he was the third highest-raising candidate in the first quarter of 2025.
"I worked on campaign finance reform in the past, and I think Virginia's system has some positives and negatives," the candidate told 24sight News. "But I think because we have no limits, you can really see where people's frustrations are, where their hopes are, everything's out in the open. That's one of the good things about our system."
The move away from accepting corporate donations is a phenomenon that Fiddler believes to be a natural response to the increasing outside influences in politics, one that she anticipates will continue into the 2026 election cycle.
McAuliff believes the amount of money raised is indicative of the energy currently being devoted to Virginia's House of Delegates races.
"Around the country, people are paying attention to Virginia right now because that's the first chance for voters to express how they feel about what's going on in our country as a whole," McAuliff said.
Legislators' campaign fundraising within the first 15 months is at an all-time high, accounting for more than three-quarters of the total amount raised. Redistricting caused a surge in the number of open seats in 2023, causing their fundraising to skyrocket. Over $6 million was raised for open seats in the first phase of the last election cycle, compared to around $350,000 this year.
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Fiddler believes that Virginia is going to attract more attention from outside the state this year, as it usually does due to its close proximity to Washington, D.C. and odd-year elections.
"I think that people in the political space have gradually, over the course of the past decade, become more and more aware of how important these down-ballot elections are," she said.
Jessica Anderson, another candidate who has refused to take corporate donations, in her campaign against Republican incumbent Amanda Batten for House District 71. Instead, she has used her social media presence to collect small-dollar donations.
In the first quarter of this year's election, Anderson received 1,318 donations of less than $100, totalling over $36,000.
"My opponent has taken $100,000 from Dominion Energy and my opponent has taken countless dollars from lobbyists; that's something I don't do," Anderson told 24sight News. "That alone I think is why getting the reach beyond my district is so critical, because those dollars do need to come in. Unfortunately, there's not enough dollars in the 71st that are going to allow most candidates to be competitive against someone who is taking corporate money."
"Even folks without an opponent want to build the size of their caucus," said state politics expert and Democratic Attorneys General Association communications director Carolyn Fiddler. "Democrats have a very narrow majority in the statehouse and I'm sure they would certainly like to pad that a bit, build that out and increase that majority. Within a party, within a caucus, it's always going to be a team effort."
The move away from accepting corporate donations is a phenomenon that Fiddler believes to be a natural response to the increasing outside influences in politics, one that she anticipates will continue into the 2026 election cycle.
"I think it's an expression of distaste for what people are seeing happen on the federal level right now, which is an unelected billionaire having a ridiculous amount of influence over our government and how we are governed," she told 24sight News.
Although there is no clear correlation between party spending and election outcomes, having strong campaign funds allows candidates to promote their message more intensely, explained Fiddler.
"Democrats outraised Republicans, Youngkin notwithstanding, quite a lot two years ago as well. They had a really strong financial showing and it did translate to keeping the majority in the State Senate and flipping the State House," said Fiddler.
While campaign funding cannot predict election outcomes, early finance reports provide interesting insights into the beginning of a competitive election cycle.
Fiddler said, "Money does not win or lose elections, but it definitely doesn't hurt."