Governor Youngkin setting fundraising records through Spirit of Virginia PAC

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) – Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is setting fundraising records through his Spirit of Virginia campaign.

Youngkin has raised over $5.5 million — a sum that surpasses what any previous Virginia governor has raised in an entire year.

“He understands that his ability to produce results this November is going to help him leapfrog from the governor’s mansion to whatever he wants to do on the national level,” Sen. Creigh Deeds (D) said.

Sen. Deeds says Youngkin is using the money raised in the last quarter to get a head start on the upcoming primary.

“He’s invested in an early vote effort. He’s been aggressively running ads and probably doing mail and doing other social media to try to drum up the early vote for the Republicans side,” Deeds said. “He understands, as we do, that his legacy and his ability to undo what Democrats have done really rests on the outcome of these elections. The stakes are very high.”

Youngkin’s haul this year totals $8.5 million through his Spirit of Virginia PAC.

J. Miles Coleman with UVA’s Center for Politics says that if Youngkin’s efforts are successful, he could potentially gain even more control of the state.

“Before 2021, all of us analysts were saying, ‘Okay, you know Virginia’s a blue state now, the Republicans are on the way out here.’ Well, I mean, they play their cards right in the fall elections, they could have the governor’s seat and both chambers of the legislature,” Coleman said.

While Coleman says money isn’t everything when it comes to winning elections, Youngkin could use it to help pass certain laws.

“Let’s say he does get what we call the trifecta. If he’s trying to push through some conservative legislature, that may not be popular. He could maybe spend this money building public’s support,” Coleman said.

Full details of the governor’s receipts and spending over the quarter will become clear once the PAC makes its public filing.

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