Leading Democratic political-action committees have far outspent their Republican rivals in critical Northern Virginia legislative races, according to state campaign finance records released this week.
Democrats in Northern Virginia received approximately $1.2 million worth of in-kind contributions from the state party and statewide committees supporting House of Delegates and state Senate candidates. The Republican equivalents, however, chipped in only about $600,000.
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“The spending is certainly leveling the playing field for the Democrats,” said Bob Denton, a political analyst at Virginia Tech.
“Democrats believe they have a very good chance at becoming the majority party in the Senate and picking up as many as five seats in the House on Tuesday. Democrats want to use this election to build momentum for next year’s presidential election and give their candidate a chance at Virginia’s electoral votes.”
The spending surge helped candidates air commercials, send mail to constituents and pay staff. Virginia law, unlike federal statutes, places no restrictions on how much parties can spend on a candidate’s behalf or what the money can fund, as long as the activity is properly disclosed. The public can view donation and expenditure information online at www.vpap.org.
The Democratic groups pumped morethan $130,000 apiece into Janet Oleszek’s and George Barker’s campaigns against Senate Republicans in Northern Virginia. The Republicans, however, gave only about $30,000 apiece to Ken Cuccinelli, who is running against Oleszek, and Jay O’Brien, who is facing Barker.
“We certainly see opportunities for success,” said Danae Jones, a spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party. “Democratic candidates have been successful raising money and that bodes well for next week.”
The Democrats $1.2 million was roughly split between local House and Senate candidates. In the race for the open 34th district seat in the McLean area, Democrat Margaret Vanderhye received $68,150 from state Democrats. Equivalent GOP committees have just $22,818 to her opponent, Dave Hunt.
“I expected that to happen,” Hunt said. “She’s going to need that money because it is a close race.”
