Democrats shellac Republicans in late summer fundraising period in Speaker’s top targeted districts
Last month on the John Fredericks Show, Speaker Cox identified the GOP’s top targets for his desperate attempt to hold the slim Republican majority in the House of Delegates this November. The Speaker may want to take another look at the Democratic-held districts he thinks are in play for Republicans:
- HD10
- Del. Wendy Gooditis received nearly eight times as many donations as her self-funded opponent Randy Minchew, resulting in Randy’s average contribution being five times as high. To be fair, it’s hard to keep your average contribution down when roughly 30 percent of your fundraising comes from one donor. To date, he’s donated over $300k to himself, funneled through his own companies.
- HD13
- Del. Danica Roem has triple the cash on hand as her opponent, Kelly McGinn, while holding an average donation of less than a third of her opponent. In addition to coming up short in fundraising, McGinn has actively avoided speaking with the press, likely in an attempt to escape her past homophobic comments.
- HD21
- Del. Kelly Fowler raised almost five times as much as Republican Shannon Kane from nine times as many contributions. Fowler also holds three times as much cash on hand her challenger.
- HD31
- Del. Elizabeth Guzman outraised her opponent, D.J. Jordan, nearly two to one while maintaining an average donation of about half the size. She also has a cash on hand advantage of nearly $86k.
- HD51
- Del. Hala Ayala outraised her challenger, Rich Anderson by 5-1 while receiving nearly seven times as many donations and maintaining nearly twice as much cash on hand. Rich has been trying to campaign like he is the incumbent, but it is clear that he is struggling to match Delegate Ayala’s support.
- HD68
- Del. Dawn Adams raised $86k while Garrison Coward raised just $36k. Adams holds a whopping ten times as much cash on hand from four times as many donations.
- HD72
- Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg outraised opponent Gaydonna Vandergriff almost 6-1 and holds over five times as much cash on hand, yet Vandgeriff also has a higher average donation and $20k in debt.
- HD73
- Democratic candidate Rodney Willett received five times as many donations as opponent Mary Margaret Kastelburg. Willet holds a nearly triple cash on hand advantage, even after Mary Margaret received more than $120k from Republican leadership scrambling to win this seat.
- HD85
- Democratic candidate Alex Askew received an incredible 651 grassroots donations compared to perennial candidate Rocky Holcomb’s eleven. Alex holds over twice as much cash on hand.
Virginia’s 92 House Democratic candidates raised a combined $5,409,222.79, roughly 1.1 million dollars more than Republicans during the period, with a nearly million dollar cash on hand advantage.
“Republican leadership is going to have to adjust their playbook,” said Trevor Southerland, Executive Director of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus. “With Cox, Jones and Hugo desperately clinging to their seats and a pitiful reporting period for the GOP overall, they won’t be able to bail out any more of their delegates–even with the NRA’s $200k donation to Todd Gilbert. I’m glad I’m not the one trying to make up that deficit.”
Of course, there were some seats the Speaker knew he had no chance of winning, including the six additional districts that Democrats flipped in 2017. Meanwhile, Democrats are on the offense in Republican-held districts that could likely flip in November, including:
- HD27
- Larry Barnett raised $158k to Del. Roxanne Robinson’s $44k, with an average donation of just one-fifth of Robinson’s.
- HD28
- Josh Cole raised $189,047.27 compared to Paul Milde’s $50,619.00. That leaves Milde with negative $518,822.37 cash on hand when his $534,069.49 in debts is taken into account.
- HD66
- Sheila Bynum-Coleman took in an unprecedented $330,347.76 in a hyper-competitive race against Republican Speaker Kirk Cox while maintaining an average donation of under $100. As Cox attempts to defend his razor-thin majority despite lackluster Republican fundraising, he is also poised to lose his own seat.
- HD83
- Nancy Guy raised an impressive $170,549.57 this period, coming from more than 2,000 donations resulting in an average donation of just $69.19. Compare that with Del. Stolle’s staggering average donation of $1,291.44.
- HD84
- Karen Mallard raised five times as much as Del. Glenn Davis this cycle, yet Davis had an average contribution ten times as high.
- HD 91
- Martha Mugler dramatically outraised Colleen Holcomb, $210k to $52k, in the open seat vacated by Del. Gordon Helsel. Mugler maintains a 14x advantage in cash on hand.
- HD94
- Shelly Simonds raised $216k while Del. David Yancey raised just $72k. Not only has she consistently outraised him this year, but Yancey does not even seem to be trying to catch up.
- HD100
- Phil Hernandez outraised Bloxom, $162k to $48k. Bloxom has not stepped up his fundraising even after being outraised all year and he still holds an average donation nearly ten times as high as Hernandez.
*All numbers reflect the campaign finance reports as currently posted – some candidates have not yet filed.