Beth Macy will have make a go in the Sixth District without much help

I have a feeling, and it’s almost not even newsworthy, because it’s so obvious, that Virginia Democrats are going to abandon Beth Macy in the Sixth District congressional race.

The thought popped into my head upon getting the press release last week touting how the Democratic congressional delegation had just joint-endorsed Elaine Luria in the Second District race.

I get it – the Second District is a toss-up, was only +0.2 Trump in 2024, and was +7.4 Spanberger in 2025.

As is the First District, which was +2.2 Trump, and +4.9 Spanberger.

The Sixth District, gifted to us by the MAGA Supreme Court and that dumb “nonpartisan” redistricting, was +23.8 Trump and +17.4 Earle-Sears.

Macy, the journalist and best-selling author, whose book Dopesick has come to define what we know about the impact of the opioid crisis on Appalachia, is doing just fine in terms of fundraising on her own.

According to Federal Election Commission data, Macy, as of March 31, had raised a smidge under $1.1 million for her campaign, actually outpacing the MAGA incumbent, Ben Cline, by $73,000 at that stage.

I would assume that the next FEC report, due on July 15, will show another healthy fundraising quarter for Macy – or at least, a healthy half-quarter.

The state Supreme Court ruling overturning the April 21 referendum was handed down on May 8, five weeks into the fundraising quarter.

Which is significant because, until that shock ruling came down, Macy was in the midst of a contentious primary battle with Tom Perriello in the Sixth.

Donors had incentive to spend their money with Macy because the winner in that one would be the favorite in a new-look Sixth in November.

Perriello is now back over in the Fifth, challenging MAGA incumbent John McGuire.

Perriello, per the Virginia Public Access Project, had raised $1.4 million for his campaign as of March 31, within $30,000 of McGuire.

The rating on the Fifth is, closer, still “likely Republican,” on that scale – +12.2 Trump, +6.6 Earle-Sears.

I will suspect that the Richmond Dems won’t leave Perriello to his own devices, because those numbers suggest the Fifth could be in play, particularly given Perriello’s own political history there.

And, like I said above, I get it – you’re going to want to put your money where you can have the most effect.

The shame of it is, Beth Macy as our rep in the Sixth District runs circles around the feckless Ben Cline, who has yet to author a single significant piece of legislation, and is no more than a guy in that spot who fiddles as the world burns around him, a rubberstamp for the failed Trump agenda.

Macy will need to catch lightning in a bottle to be able to pull off what would be a monumental upset, but I’m old enough to remember another candidate who was able to do that in a district that the Richmond Dems had written off.

A guy named Perriello, over in the Fifth, who, in the one poll conducted in the 2008 race, trailed the incumbent, Republican Virgil Goode, by 29 points.

I think Macy has a Perriello chance of winning in November.