D.C. Democrats sinking $2M into Virginia General Assembly races to counter Youngkin, GOP

A D.C.-based Democrat campaign finance group is sinking more than $2 million into Virginia’s 2023 House of Delegates and State Senate races.

“The DLCC is leading the fight this year to hold the Virginia Senate and flip the House of Delegates,” said Heather Williams, listed in a Monday press release as the interim president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the D.C. outfit founded in 1992.

“We invested early and have kept up the pace because the stakes are so high. Democrats must win in November to protect Virginians’ fundamental rights and to advance an economic agenda to grow the middle class. If we fail, Virginia will fall into the hands of unchecked Republican power, and their extreme MAGA agenda will set Virginia back decades,” Williams said.

Democrats have lagged significantly behind their Republican counterparts in efforts at the local and state levels, which is why you see Republicans overrepresented on local city councils, county boards and in state legislatures.

Give ‘em credit; politics is a ground up game.

Virginia is a traditional key off-year battleground, with the midterm state legislative election cycle always preceding a presidential election year.

The stakes are raised for the 2023 races, with the future of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the Republican who won the governor’s race in an upset in the 2021 cycle, hinging on a GOP victory.

Big-money Republican donors have signaled that Youngkin could be their guy in the race to try to rescue the party from the clutches of former president Donald Trump, whose big lead in the 2024 primary polls is tenuous, with a third of Republican voters indicating that they will consider other candidates, another third saying they will not for Trump in any circumstance, and Trump facing numerous state and federal indictments for fraud, security document improprieties and his efforts to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

First things first: Youngkin would need to see Republicans win control of the State Senate, which is currently held by Democrats, who hold a 22-18 majority, and maintain control of the House of Delegates, where Republicans hold a 51-46 majority, with three seats unfilled.

Democrats can throw a monkey wrench into the money Republicans’ plans to use Youngkin to thwart Trump.

There are other, more local, issues at play as well. Youngkin has put abortion rights in the crosshairs, and his efforts to roll back gains in environmental and diversity pushes from his Democratic predecessors, Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam, have roiled the Democratic base.

“We are on a path to retake the majority in the House of Delegates thanks to the early and consistent support of the DLCC,” House Democratic Leader Don Scott said. “As we head into the final weeks of this election, we cannot let up in making our case to voters and countering the MAGA Republican spending. It’s clear that the momentum is behind us, and this latest investment will help to keep it going”

“The DLCC was with us in January to flip a critical seat and their partnership has been essential for establishing and defending our majority in the Virginia Senate,” said Sen. Jennifer Boysko, the finance chair for Senate Democrats. “This year’s elections are high stakes for ensuring Democrats can continue to hold Gov. Youngkin and his Republican caucuses accountable and we need all our supporters behind us to finish strong.”