Democrats pour another $200,000 into Virginia legislative races

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the national Democratic Party arm in charge of funding candidates for state legislative races, is pouring another $200,000 into its effort to prevent Republicans from gaining full control of the Virginia General Assembly.

The group’s latest investment, shared first with NBC News, brings its total spending on the closely watched Nov. 7 elections to $2.2 million.

The new round of cash will pay for get out the vote efforts for Democratic candidates in the state, as well as a round of digital ads seeking to tie Republican candidates to the current power vacuum in the U.S. House by accusing Republicans of not knowing how to govern.

“Republican dysfunction has become a hallmark of national politics. Their refusal to do the basic requirements of government, including choosing a speaker, shows us that this is all a game to them and they don’t care about the people they were elected to represent,” DLCC spokesperson Abhi Rahman said in a statement. “If national Republicans continue to show they won’t govern, why would Virginia Republicans be any different?”

In Virginia’s closely divided General Assembly, Republicans hold a three-seat edge in the state House, while Democrats control the Senate by four seats. Democrats have flooded the state with money in recent weeks, with much of those investments focusing heavily the 15-week abortion ban that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and many GOP legislative candidates have put at the center of their campaigns. The proposal includes exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother, and many Republicans see it as test case for whether the party can succeed with a more moderate policy on abortion, which has been a major political liability for the GOP since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last year.

In addition to the DLCC’s total investment of $2.2 million on behalf of Democratic candidates, the Democratic National Committee threw $1.2 million into the races in September. Outside groups have been active as well: The States Project, a left-leaning group that works to promote Democrats, announced last week that it was spending $4.5 million on the races.

Youngkin, meanwhile, has used his Spirit of Virginia state PAC to spend heavily promoting Republican candidates in the legislative races. The governor has also done little to quiet speculation that the success of his efforts for GOP candidates in the legislative races could be related to a potential future White House bid

The PAC has raised eye-popping amounts of money — $5.75 million in the second quarter of 2023, more than $7 million in the third quarter of 2023, and another $2 million from billionaire GOP donor Jeff Yass earlier this month. Last week, the group went up with a $1.4 million ad buy that focused on Youngkin’s proposed 15-week ban and hit Democrats for their own positions on the issue.

The PAC still has more than $6 million of cash on hand, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks money raised and spent on elections in the state.