RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Democrats vying to shield their statehouse majority and flip the governor’s mansion in November raised millions of dollars more than Republicans in the first three months of 2025, according to newly released campaign finance reports, securing a cash advantage in their pursuit of voters frustrated with Republican tech billionaire Elon Musk.
For months, Democrats have tailored their campaigns around anti-Musk sentiment in Virginia, pushing ads blasting his initiative to overhaul federal spending during President Donald Trump's administration.
And campaign finance reports released on Tuesday suggest their strategy may be helping their cash flow: Former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger raised $6.7 million toward her campaign for governor between January and March, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. Democrats also raised more than $3.7 million during those months toward the House of Delegates elections, in which all seats of the lower chamber are on the ballot.
Del. Dan Helmer, the House Democrats’ campaigns chair, said following the reports' publication that the GOP "agenda is out of step with Virginians, and no last-minute attempt to distance themselves from President Trump and Elon Musk will save them.”
Republicans raised roughly $2.2 million less than Democrats in the House races, according to VPAP. Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears’ gubernatorial campaign brought home a little over $3.1 million, though, unlike Spanberger, she was unable to raise money during Virginia's 45-day legislative session.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Earle-Sears' campaign said: “We'll have the resources we need to share Winsome's story and take the case directly to voters — and that includes holding Abigail Spanberger accountable for her failures in Washington. This is just the beginning.”
The first-quarter financial reports reflect the national attention — and money — pouring into Virginia's off-year races. The state has been acutely impacted by Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency because it's where many federal workers live. Changes to the federal government have already sparked frustrations among Virginians, who have decried the changes during town halls and community meetings.
“Virginia elections are often about angry voters, and the most angry group of voters is the party who lost the White House the year before,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington. “Democrats are angry, and they’re putting their money where their irritation is.”
Behind some donations are multimillionaires and billionaires backing Spanberger, such $100,000 from venture capitalist and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman. CEO Martha Samuelson gave another $100,000. Spanberger's largest donors so far this year were two political action committees: $500,000 from VoteVets Federal PAC and $250,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Working Families Fund.
Earle-Sears' largest donation of $300,000 came from Florida-based billionaire Thomas Peterffy. Former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also contributed $50,000 to the lieutenant governor's coffers, and a political group affiliated with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley also chipped in $5,000.
Among the slew of Earle-Sears' conservative donors, there is one person notably missing: Musk himself.
Musk and his affiliated groups have not yet contributed to Virginia's elections, according to a list of donors provided by VPAP. His absence comes after he and those groups sunk $21 million into flipping the Wisconsin Supreme Court to conservative control in early April, only to see his candidate lose by 10 percentage points.
“One of the big questions about the Virginia election this year is whether Elon Musk will weigh in like he did in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election recently,” Farnsworth said, later adding: “The question really is whether Musk will view Virginia as a good investment.”
This story was first published on Apr. 17, 2025. It was updated on Apr. 21, 2025 to correct that state Del. Dan Helmer is the Virginia House Democrats’ campaigns chair. Minor editing to conform.
Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
FILE - Elon Musk flashes his T-shirt that reads "DOGE" to the media as he walks on South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
LONDON (AP) — The hard-right party Reform UK led by Nigel Farage won a seat in Parliament by a handful of votes and looked set to make more gains in results Friday from local elections the party hopes will show it is a major player in British politics.
Reform's Sarah Pochin was declared winner of the seat of Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by six votes after a recount, defeating Labour candidate Karen Shore.
Labour easily won the district in last year's national election, but its lawmaker, Mike Amesbury, was forced to quit after he was convicted of punching a constituent in a drunken rage.
Although Reform's victory was one of the narrowest in British history, Farage said “it’s a very, very big moment indeed” for politics.
“We are not a protest party, even though there is much to protest about," Farage told reporters at the election count.
The local elections Thursday in many areas of England were a test of feeling about Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s center-left Labour government, 10 months after it was elected in a landslide. Both Labour and the main opposition Conservative Party braced for losses in the midterm poll.
The Runcorn victory gives Reform, which got about 14% of the vote in last year’s national election, five of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, compared to 403 for Labour and 121 for the Conservatives.
But Reform appears to have momentum. National polls now suggest its support equals or surpasses that of Labour and the Conservatives, and it hopes to displace the Conservatives as the country’s main party on the right before the next national election, due by 2029.
Reform candidate Andrea Jenkyns — a former Conservative lawmaker who defected to the party last year — was declared winner of the newly created mayoralty of the Greater Lincolnshire region of east-central England. Labour retained three other mayoralties.
Reform hopes to scoop up hundreds of municipal seats in the elections that are deciding 1,600 seats on 23 local councils, six mayoralties and one seat in Parliament. Ballots in most of those contests are being counted Friday.
The results give only a partial snapshot of voter sentiment. Many areas, including London, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, did not hold elections on Thursday. Turnout for local elections and byelections is typically much lower than in a national election.
And Reform is not the only story. The centrist Liberal Democrats also hope to build on their success in winning more affluent, socially liberal voters away from the Conservatives.
A majority of the local seats being contested were held by the Conservatives, whose leader Kemi Badenoch could face revolt if the party does very badly. The Tories did extremely well when these areas were last contested in 2021, a time when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government enjoyed a surge in popularity due to the COVID-19 vaccine program.
Reform UK is the latest in a series of parties led by Farage, a veteran hard-right politician who was crucial in taking Britain out of the European Union through a 2016 referendum. A charismatic campaigner, he is a divisive figure who has said many migrants come to the U.K. from cultures “alien to ours.”
Reform blends Farage’s longstanding political themes — strong borders, curbing immigration — with policies reminiscent of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. During the campaign Farage said he plans “a DOGE for every county” in England, inspired by Elon Musk’s controversial spending-slashing agency.
University of Strathclyde political scientist John Curtice said the results showed that politics in Britain, long dominated by the two big parties, was fragmenting and that “Reform are now posing a big threat to both Conservative and Labour."
“They are a major challenge,” he told the BBC.
Reform U.K.'s Greater Lincolnshire mayoral candidate Dame Andrea Jenkyns looks on during the count at Grimsby Town Hall, in Lincolnshire, England, for the Greater Lincolnshire Mayor election, early Friday, May 2, 2025. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)
Votes are counted at DCBL Halton Stadium, in Widnes, Cheshire, England, for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election that was triggered by the resignation of former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Reform UK candidate Sarah Pochin, second left and party leader Nigel Farage, second right, arrive at the DCBL Halton Stadium ahead of the result of the Runcorn and Helsby by-election at DCBL Halton Stadium, Widnes, Cheshire, Friday, May 2, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Reform UK's Sarah Pochin, right and party leader Nigel Farage talk to the media after the party won the seat in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election at DCBL Halton Stadium, Widnes, Cheshire, Friday, May 2, 2025. ( Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Votes are counted at DCBL Halton Stadium, in Widnes, Cheshire, England, for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election that was triggered by the resignation of former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, Thursday May 1, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Votes are counted at DCBL Halton Stadium, in Widnes, Cheshire, England, for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election that was triggered by the resignation of former Labour MP Mike Amesbury, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
Votes are counted at Oasis Academy, in Bristol, England, for the Mayor of West of England Combined Authority, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)
Reform U.K.'s Greater Lincolnshire mayoral candidate Dame Andrea Jenkyns, center, gestures during the count at Grimsby Town Hall, in Lincolnshire, England, for the Greater Lincolnshire Mayor election, Friday, May 2, 2025. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)
Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage speaks during a campaign event at Stafford Showground, Stafford, England, whilst campaigning for this week's local elections, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP)
