New campaign finance reports bring into question Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones’ claim that he raised $500,000 within 24 hours of the debate on Oct. 16. The Jones campaign says a wire transfer delay is to blame.
Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares hit a fundraising windfall in October after the Jones texting scandal broke. National groups are backing both candidates heavily.
Miyares raised $8,603,986 between Oct. 1 and Oct. 23, compared to Jones’ $1,923,749.
$6.5 million of Miyares’ haul came from the Republican Attorneys General Association, and $1.3 million of Jones’ haul was from the Democratic Attorneys General Association, according to VPAP.
Jones struggled to raise money during the first half of the month as he dealt with the texting scandal and remained mostly out of the public eye, but his campaign sent out a press release on Oct.17 saying he raised $500,000 in less than 24 hours after his debate performance on Oct. 16.
According to campaign finance records, Jones did not receive $500,000 in the 24 hours after the debate.
Virginia Scope looked at all the donations Jones received on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17: the high-dollar donations totaled around $350,000, and the total of small-dollar donations for the entire period was $71,378, according to VPAP.
The date of when the small-dollar donations were given to Jones is not available, but if somehow they all came in on Oct. 16 and 17, the Jones campaign would have still been well short of $500,000 within the timeframe of their announcement.
In a statement to Virginia Scope on Monday, the Jones campaign said that a wire transfer was delayed causing the reporting discrepancy.
A Jones spokesperson said they were “proud” of the “more than $500,000 received or committed within 24 hours of the debate – one contribution did not make it in by the wire deadline and hit the books the next business day.”
Records show Jones received a $250,000 donation from DAGA three days after the announcement.
“Jay Jones is caught in yet another lie,” RAGA said in a statement Monday. “Jones’ press release specifies a very clear timeframe and a very specific amount in which he “raised $500,000.” However, when looking at the actual report – no matter how you do the math – it only adds up to roughly $350,000. Virginians understand IOU’s and Monopoly Money do not pay the bills.”