Welcome to the Tuesday, December 14, Brew.
By: Douglas Kronaizl
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Democrats outraised Republicans by 125% in Virginia state legislative races
- The polls are open in Ballotpedia’s Holiday Cookie election!
- Candidate filing deadlines are here
Democrats outraised Republicans by 125% in Virginia state legislative races
New campaign finance filings for Virginia’s House of Delegates races showed that Democrats led Republicans in fundraising throughout the 2021 election cycle. Between Jan. 1, 2020, and Nov. 25, 2021, Democratic candidates outraised Republican candidates by 125%.
Heading into the Nov. 2, 2021, general elections, 103 Democrats candidates raised $56.4 million compared to $25.1 million raised by 103 Republicans.
The largest fundraiser of the cycle was incumbent Del. Wendy Gooditis (D), who raised $3.1 million. The remaining nine largest fundraisers were also all Democrats. The largest Republican fundraiser was Nick Clemente, who faced Gooditis in District 10. Clemente raised $1.8 million and lost to Gooditis 48.9% to 50.9%.
Democrats—who entered the election cycle with a 55-45 majority in the chamber—lost majority control of the House of Delegates with Republicans set to represent 52 of the chamber’s 100 districts. This was the largest number of Democratic incumbents defeated in the chamber since 2011.
In the seven House districts that switched party control, Democrats similarly led Republicans in fundraising, bringing in 78% more during the election cycle. In those seven districts, Democrats raised $12.3 million and Republicans raised $5.4 million.
As shown above, in all of these districts, the Democratic candidate—all of whom were incumbents—raised more money than their Republican challengers. The district with the largest difference in fundraising was District 91, where incumbent Del. Martha Mugler (D) raised $594,014 more than her Republican challenger, Aijalon Cordoza (R), a 166% difference. This race also had the narrowest margin of victory of the seven, with Cordoza defeating Mugler 49.4% to 49.0%.
The data above was published in partnership with Transparency USA. It is based on campaign finance reports that active Virginia candidate political action committees (candidate PACs) submitted to the Virginia Department of Elections. These PACs represent individuals who have run for state or local office at any point, including past and present officeholders. This research does not include non-candidates PACs.
The polls are open in Ballotpedia’s Holiday Cookie election!
We are four days into the election for 2021’s Official Holiday Cookie! Have you cast your ballot yet?
We have a recall election on our hands this year after a petition was filed against our 2020 incumbent, the Sugar Cookie, due to an incident where salt was used instead of sugar! Gingerbread Man and Cookie Monster, the organizers behind the recall petition, said, “There’s nothing festive about a salty sugar cookie!” Opponents of the recall said it was politi-cookie motivated, adding, “Sugar Cookie remains the most well-rounded holiday cookie!”
Read more about the candidates here.
This delicious race will ultimately end with the final winner announced on December 20. While we won’t have the play-by-play for the campaigning in this recall election, we do have it for our reports highlighting recall statistics and notable recall efforts at the local and state government levels!
Be sure to keep an eye out for our 2021 annual report, but in the meantime, vote now for your favorite holiday cookie!
Candidate filing deadlines are here
Let the 2022 election cycle begin! Yesterday, Dec. 13, marked the first major-party statewide candidate filing deadline as candidates for office in Texas submitted their required materials to appear on the primary ballot. The 2022 ballot in Texas will, among other offices, include races for governor, all 181 state legislative districts, and all 38 U.S. House districts, which includes two new districts apportioned to the state after the 2020 census due to its population growth.
Texas is the only state with candidate filing deadlines in 2021. Until last week, North Carolina had a Dec. 17 candidate filing deadline. On Dec. 8, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued an order in a redistricting lawsuit that changed several key dates in the state’s 2022 election cycle when the primary was moved from March 8 to May 17. The order stopped the candidate filing process but did not set a new deadline, instead giving that authority to the trial court that will hear the larger redistricting lawsuit. Candidates whose filings had been accepted before the court order will not have to re-file.
Under current schedules, 18 states’ candidate filing deadlines are slated for March followed by 12 with deadlines in April and May. Eight states’ deadlines are in January and February and the remaining 10 states have filing deadlines in June and July.
