Virginia's candidates for governor are heading into the fall election season with millions of dollars of campaign cash. But one candidate has significantly more money than the other.
Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate for governor, has raised more than twice as much money as the Republican candidate for governor, Winsome Earle-Sears – $23 million compared to $9 million. And Spanberger is heading into the summer with almost five times as much cash on hand as Earle-Sears – $14 million compared to $3 million. Mark Rozell is dean of the Schar School at George Mason University, and he says having more money is an advantage, but it's not decisive.
"History is replete with examples of candidates who out-raised and out-spent their opponents and yet lost elections. So, is it better to have more money? Of course it is," Rozell says. "Does it give an advantage to the candidate? It certainly does. Is it a guarantee of a positive outcome? Absolutely not."
J. Miles Coleman at the University of Virginia Center for Politics says Spanberger has a history of being able to raise large sums of money.
"For campaigns for Congress, she’s raised several million each time. So, it is surprising maybe to the degree that she's outraising the Republicans," Coleman says. "But not really too much of a surprise being that it's Spanberger and what her record is."
Spanberger and Earle-Sears both have no competition in the primary next week, so they'll be able to spend all that campaign cash against each other rather than being forced to spend the money to get the nomination.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
