Campaign finance disclosures show this year's race for governor is not attracting the kind of money that other recent elections have.
Democrat Abigail Spangerger is on track to raise as much money, if not more, than former Governor Terry McAuliffe raised in the last election cycle. But Republican Winsome Earle-Sears has raised significantly less money than current Governor Glenn Youngkin did back in 2021. That's according to data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project.
"It's surprising that it looks like the Republican Party is not really rallying around their nominee in the way that you expect a party to do," says Jennifer Victor at George Mason University. "Just four years ago, we saw a sweep. And to see that party falling apart now and promoting candidates that they’re not really getting behind says something to me about what's going on in the Republican Party in Virginia."
J. Miles Coleman at the University of Virginia says the lieutenant governor also struggled with fundraising in her last campaign.
"Hala Ayala was outraising her basically two-to-one at this point, too. But she eventually went on to win, obviously," Coleman says. "But if you're running for governor compared to LG, you really have to step up your game, and I don't think I've seen much of that from Sears this year."
The race for attorney general is the polar opposite. Both candidates are raising and spending historic amounts of money, especially Republican incumbent Jason Miyares, who raised the most of any statewide candidate in the latest campaign finance disclosure.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
