The latest round of campaign finance numbers are showing the state of the race so far.
Republican candidate for lieutenant governor John Reid is coming in third place when it comes to cash on hand. That's according to the latest campaign finance numbers posted to the Virginia Public Access Project, which has Democratic candidate Ghzala Hashmi leading the money race. And then in second place, it lists write-in candidate John Curran who says he wants to restore civility to the Capitol.
"My view of this is to get in there and be an influencer and possibly a disrupter," he says.
Curran was running as a Republican for the nomination lieutenant governor, but he was not able to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot. Now, campaign finance records say he has almost a million dollars cash on hand.
"Obviously, I'm not making friends within the Republican Party right now doing a write-in," he says. "But I'm ready to fight for it."
Some Republicans are critical of that self-financed, million-dollar war chest, saying it's money on paper that might not ever get spent on the campaign trail.
"He loaned himself a million dollars at the end of last year and has spent all of $7,000 this year," says Republican strategist Chris Saxman. "And if he spends half that money, I'll buy you dinner."
Curran says he plans on spending the million dollars and maybe even more.
"See if he'll buy me dinner because I'll be broke by then," he says.
Hashmi has more than $2 million cash on hand. Reid has about $300,000.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
