This Week in Statehouse Action: License to Bill edition
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Never say never again—I’m back like Sean Connery! I had the temerity to take a vacation, and I can only hope you’ll forgive me. Campaign Action Said trip did involve riding the Riesenrad, which you may remember from the classic film The Living DayligThis Week in Statehouse Action: License to Bill edition
Never say never again—I’m back like Sean Connery! I had the temerity to take a vacation, and I can only hope you’ll forgive me. Campaign Action Said trip did involve riding the Riesenrad, which you may remember from the classic film The Living Daylights (or from The Third Man, whichever). Goldfinger: But I’m back just in time for another round of key campaign finance updates from Virginia, where you may recall that elections for all 140 seats of the state legislature are just over three weeks away. And while flipping just two seats in each chamber to win a majority might seem like not a huge lift on paper, we can count on Republicans pulling out all available stops to keep their decades-long claw-hold on power. Not only are Virginia GOPers scratching and clawing to hold on to the seats they have, but they’re also making credible plays to unseat a couple of first-term Democrats in the House of Delegates. Just how pitched is the battle for control of the legislature this fall? Well, for general cash money frame of reference, all candidates for the General Assembly, D and R, have raised about $53 million so far—up 67% from 2015, the last time all 140 seats were up. In the most recent round of reports (which cover the month of September), Democratic challengers out-raised GOP incumbents in every competitive state Senate race. The top four fundraisers in both state House and state Senate races were Democratic challengers. Currently, Democratic House candidates boast a whopping $9.2 million cash on hand. Republican House candidates, on the other hand, are sitting on a respectable-in-a-vacuum-I-guess $7 million. Additionally, the Democratic party and caucus fundraising committees frankly embarrassed their GOP counterparts over the past quarter. The state Republican Party and House and Senate campaign committees raised just under $3 million combined. Meanwhile, the state Democratic Party and House and Senate campaign committees raised over $9.8 million. Republicans make up a little of that deficit in terms of leadership committee fundraising—they currently have majorities in both chambers, after all, so it’s not a surprise. The GOP speaker’s, House and Senate majority leaders’, and Senate president’s PACs raised a combined $1.4 million. Democratic House and Senate leaders raised $623,736. … so, not exactly much of a dent in that party/caucus committee deficit. Womp womp. Read more