The clash between Clean Virginia and Dominion Energy was on full display in Tuesday night’s Democratic primaries — and Clean Virginia came out on top.
Dominion Energy, the state’s largest public utility, is one of Virginia’s most prolific political donors, contributing to candidates in both parties. Clean Virginia, a rival donor group, says its mission is to promote clean government and clean energy — and backs only candidates who refuse contributions from Dominion.
In 2025, Clean Virginia contributed $957,543 directly to statewide candidates, including $200,000 to gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger and $757,543 to attorney general nominee Jay Jones. The group also gave an additional $50,000 — split evenly between state Sens. Ghazala Hashmi and Aaron Rouse — to their Senate campaign accounts. Both candidates later transferred the money to their lieutenant governor campaign accounts.
Dominion Energy donated $1.27 million to Democratic candidates in the statewide primaries this year. That includes $775,000 to Shannon Taylor’s attorney general campaign, $418,000 to Levar Stoney’s lieutenant governor campaign, and $75,000 to Babur Lateef’s campaign for the same office.
Hashmi secured the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, while Jones won the nod for attorney general. With Spanberger unopposed for the gubernatorial nomination, Democrats head into the general election with a statewide ticket fully backed by Clean Virginia — and free of Dominion Energy’s money.
Clean Virginia went on the offensive in both the attorney general and lieutenant governor primary races. They publicly railed against Taylor for accepting Dominion money and released an attack ad. They also posted signs at polling locations across Northern Virginia advertising the money she received from Dominion.
On Election Day, the group texted more than 200,000 Democrats, urging them to support Jones.
Jones ended up winning by a margin of two percentage points.
He will now be facing off against Dominion again, however, as Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, who is seeking reelection to a second term, has received $450,000 from the public utility this year.
In the lieutenant governor’s race, Clean Virginia began running a digital and TV ad attacking Stoney for accepting Dominion money in the final days of the primary, targeting Democratic-heavy Northern Virginia.
“Big corporations are dumping big money into Virginia’s lieutenant governor race, and Levar Stoney is their guy,” the ad states. “As Richmond mayor, Stoney took special interest money and pushed their projects.”
Stoney lost to Hashmi by a margin of less than one percentage point.
Inside Democratic circles, there was debate in the final days over whether primary voters actually care about Dominion funding a candidate.
“I don’t think a ton of people [cared] – but in a race that’s won on the margins – I certainly think it probably helped,” said Richard Meagher, a political science professor at Randolph-Macon College.
“I think that the story that probably had the most impact was saying Shannon Taylor got hundreds of thousands [of dollars] from Dominion,” Meagher continued. “I think that was enough to raise questions in people’s minds if they were trying to decide between Taylor and Jones. That’s enough to be like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I like that. I’ve heard of dominion. I know I pay my bills to them. I don’t like that they’re so involved in politics.’”
Meagher also noted the challenge of pushing back against a group like Clean Virginia, whose brand and mission are difficult to counter politically. Rather than confront the group directly, Taylor’s campaign shifted its focus to attacking Jones — highlighting his acceptance of Dominion contributions in 2017, before Clean Virginia had entered the political arena.
“It’s hard to make this case against a nonprofit called Clean Virginia,” Meagher said. “The idea is that it is funded by this shadowy guy. No one’s quite sure what his motivation is. Is it really just out of the goodness of his heart? Is he somehow benefiting financially from clean technology? All those kinds of speculations have been circulated about Clean Virginia, but Dominion is the ‘devil we know,’ and has been the most influential force in Virginia politics for the last couple of decades.”
While Dominion may have lost this battle, it doesn’t mean they have lost the war. The company’s influence in Richmond remains deeply entrenched.
Leadership of the General Assembly from both parties is Dominion-friendly.
Speaker of the House Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, has received $725,000 from Dominion over the last two years. In 2024, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, and Democratic Party of Virginia Chair Lamont Bagby each received $135,000.
House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, has received $980,000 from Dominion during his time in office, which began in 1993. Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, has received $455,000 from Dominion during his time in the Senate.
With friendly candidates on the statewide Democratic ticket, Clean Virginia heads into November riding high. Their victories were narrow, however, making this just another chapter in the ongoing rivalry.
*Campaign finance numbers were provided by VPAP.