Why did a MAGA staffer text us a Democrat’s primary filing fee receipt?

One of our AFP freelancers got a text from a Utah phone number pushing what the MAGA behind it thinks is a damaging story regarding the campaign of Makayla Venable, the Democratic Party nominee in the 36th House District race.

“Makayla Venable, who’s running as a Democrat against Del. Ellen Campbell in HD-36, only paid $215 for her primary filing fee with the Department of Elections. The filing fee is actually $352.60 (and the deadline has passed), meaning that Venable should be ineligible to run for the 38th District,” was the text, which we were able to track back to a phone number used by Charles Ferry, a Republican operative who served as the communications manager for Ellen Campbell, the incumbent Republican in the 36th, during Campbell’s run in the 2023 special election in the district.

The text also included a screenshot of a receipt purported to be from the Augusta County Treasurer’s Office showing that the Venable campaign paid, actually, $213.45 for “primary election fees” on March 19.

I’ve since confirmed with the Treasurer’s Office that the receipt sent to our freelancer by Ferry is authentic, and that there is no other evidence of any other payment associated with the primary filing fee, which, according to the Virginia Department of Elections, is actually $352.80, not $352.60, as Ferry asserted in his text.

Also, his observation that “Venable should be ineligible to run for the 38th District” was off by two districts – as noted, she’s the Democrat running in the 36th.

People make mistakes in texts, as we all know.

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ICYMI

• Getting to know: Makayla Venable: Democrat working to shock the world in the 36th

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Even considering the source, I worked to track this down, to try to find out what the situation should be regarding the Venable candidacy.

Thing is, I can’t seem to get a straight answer on how the discrepancy between what Venable paid and the filing fee that appears to have been due is to be viewed.

I emailed, in no particular order, as mentioned, the Virginia Department of Elections and the Augusta County Treasurer’s Office, and on top of that, also the local Augusta County registrar, the Democratic Party of Virginia, and then Venable and her campaign treasurer.

The official types kept pointing me to somebody else; the Venable campaign never responded, despite repeated efforts.

My best guess: because there was no need for a Democratic primary in the 36th, with no other candidates filing, Venable, per the Virginia Department of Elections, would have been refunded the fee anyway.

Ferry, in his text, noted that the “deadline has passed,” referring to the April 3 deadline to file for a party primary.

We’re also well past declaring someone “ineligible to run”; early voting started on Sept. 19.

I can’t get a good answer on when an objection to a candidacy should have been filed, but we can presume, ahead of the beginning of early voting.

Seems here that what we have from this Charles Ferry, who in addition to working for Campbell for two months two years ago, lists on his bio his work for the Glenn Youngkin campaign in 2021, and a stint as the bodyman for Attorney General Jason Miyares, is, he was hoping somebody would write a story without having done any research just asserting that Venable shouldn’t be on the ballot.

My question regarding that: why?

The 36th was a Trump +18.8 district a year ago, and Campbell has won each of her runs in the district by 20+.

Venable, try as she might, is having a hard time raising money for her campaign – she has reported $42,784 in campaign contributions, less than a third what Campbell ($146,804) has been able to collect from her donors.

There’s been no public polling in the 36th, but could it be the case that the private polling is showing the race getting to be a little too close for comfort for the MAGAs?

I’ll stop here.