Millions of dollars are flooding into Virginia redistricting campaigns ahead of the April referendum vote. With early voting scheduled to begin on Friday, Democrats have an astronomical money advantage over Republicans as they try to convince Virginia voters to allow them to redraw Virginia’s congressional districts.
According to VPAP, over $21 million has been given to Virginians for Fair Elections, the Democratic-aligned PAC that is funding the “Vote Yes” campaign. These are only the large donations that have to be reported quickly.
The Republican-aligned Virginians for Fair Maps has only reported $295,000.
Nearly half of the Democratic money comes from the House Majority Forward, the PAC that is aligned with U.S. House Democratic leadership.
U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has been a strong force behind the scenes, pushing Virginia Democrats to redraw the lines to net more blue seats.
The next-largest donor to the Democratic effort is the Fairness Project, at $9 million.
The Fairness Project is a national nonprofit advocacy organization that works to advance public policy changes through citizen-initiated ballot measures in states. It has worked on campaigns in several states to expand Medicaid.
American Opportunity Action gave the Democrats $1 million. The group says it “works to rebuild and grow our middle class by focusing on the women and families at the center of our communities.”
The Global Impact Social Welfare Fund also gave the Democrats $1 million. The group describes itself as a nonprofit corporation that supports philanthropic funding for social impact.
“We pursue our objectives by building partnerships and delivering resources for education and advocacy addressing public policy issues, including, but not limited to: climate & environment, justice reform, global health, voter rights, economic development and racial and gender equality.”
Republicans have reported one large donation of $250,000 from American Potential, a group with little public presence. When reached at the phone number listed in their disclosure filing, the person who answered said they had no comment after placing Virginia Scope on hold for a brief period.
The phone number for the PAC directs callers to Election CFO, a company where Republican Party of Virginia’s legal counsel, Chris Martson, is listed as an employee.
Patrick Hynes is the executive director listed in the filing, and William Canfield is listed as the secretary and general counsel.
Canfield states on his public profiles that he served as general counsel to six Republican presidential campaigns until 2020. He was also the counsel to Ultra MAGA PAC in 2021 and 2022.
Early voting begins Friday.