Political ads are flooding the airwaves now that campaign season is in full swing. And those commercials are funded by a lot of new donors.
New donors are outnumbering regular donors in the race for governor. That's according to an analysis posted to the Virginia Public Access Project, which shows many previous donors are sitting this one out.
"There was a lot of donor exhaustion after the 2024 race," says Democratic strategist Ben Tribbett. "And the adding of all these people to email lists and text lists that they didn't ask to be added to has really dissuaded a lot of people who have made political donations from making more."
New donors are a majority of the people giving to the campaigns for both Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears.
"More people are donating to Virginia and potentially New Jersey because there's not a lot of other opportunities to do so," says Republican strategist Chris Saxman. "And all the list brokers are needing to find a way to keep their businesses going too, and a lot of that's predicated on having something to donate to."
Just as soon as this campaign is over next month, all those list brokers will need to start ramping up fundraising efforts for the congressional midterms next year.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
