VCC Magazine Winter 2018

The 2017 Money Race to Control the House of Delegates

By Michael E. Belefski Republican Holcomb who spent $448,500 or $39.15 per vote. Total expenditures were $1,051,127 in this Tidewater area. HD 50 –Democrat Carter spent $278,619 or $24.51 per vote to Republican Miller who spent $743,973 or $78.16 per vote in this NOVA region. Total spending was $1,022,592. HD 73 –Democrat Rodman spent $364,952 or $24.83 per vote to Republican O’Bannon who spent $643,585 or $46.62 per vote in this Richmond area. Expenditures were $1,008,537. Michael E. Belefski is a politics reporter for VCC and President of CPC CORPORATION, a Business, Law and Political Communications and Public Relations Firm. He can be contacted at mike.belefski@ capitolsquare.com or cpccorp@verizon.net . For a detailed financial spreadsheet on all 100 House District contests, please e-mail the author.

General Election House of Delegate candidates spent $41,855,473 with the Republican candidates outspending the Democrats by $1,328,063. The seventy- two Republicans spent $21, 591,768 over eighty-eight Democrats who spent $20,263,705. Sixteen Independents spent $107,691. Democrats garnered 1,304,271 votes to the Republicans 1,076,090 votes and Independents had 39,307 votes according to the Virginia State Board of Elections and VPAP as of November 31, 2017.

Democrats won eighteen of the top twenty-two races that spent the most money. In this category, the only Republicans who won re-election were Hugo (40th), Cox (66th) and Yancey (94th) with Jones (76th) unopposed. Incumbent Republican Delegates who were defeated were Yost (12th), LeMunyon (67th), Lingamfelter (31st), Greason (32nd), Marshall, R. (13th), Villanueva (21st), Anderson (51st), Holcomb (85th), Miller (50th), O’Bannon (73rd), Loupassi (68th) and Minchew (10th). Let’s take a look at the House Districts that total expenditures exceeded over $1,000,000. HD 12 –The most expensive House contest by a longshot was in SWVA with $2,396,753 spent with $210.05 per vote. Republican Yost spent $1,170,237 or $ 111.89 per vote. Democrat Hurst spent $1,226,516 or $98.16 per vote. HD 67 –In this NOVA area, both candidates spent a total of $1,880,940. Democrat Delaney spent $986,591 or $57.91 per vote over Republican LeMunyon who spent $894,349 or $72.32 per vote. HD 93 –Both candidates spent $1,831,766 with Democrat Mullin spending $944,485 or $62.20 per vote and defeated Republican Cordasco who spent $837,281 or $78.80 per vote in this open-seat Tidewater region. HD 31 –Total expenditures in this NOVA area was $1,738,111 with Democrat Guzman spending $1,066,895 or $68.98 per vote and Republican Lingamfelter who spent $671,216 or $53.02 per vote. HD 40 –Republican Delegate Hugo survived a close recount and spent $1,014,381 or $67.13 per vote. Democrat Tanner spent $695,400 or $46.34 per vote in this NOVA area. Total expenditures were $1,709,781. HD 87 –Democrat Delegate Bell spent $956,245 or $52.44 per vote over defeated Republican Kolla who spent $725,307 or $64.55 per vote in this NOVA region. Total expenditures totaled $1,681,552. HD 32 –Democrat Reid spent $807,308 or $45.18 per vote and Republican Greason who spent $802,010 or $63.38 per vote in this NOVA area. Total expenditures amounted to $1,609,318. HD 13 –Democrat Roem spent $952,828 or $78.89 per vote and Republican Marshall who spent $420,176 or $40.72 per vote in this NOVA area. $1,373,004 was spent by both candidates. HD 21 –Democrat Convirs-Fowler spent $545,577 or $43.50 per vote and RepublicanVillanueva who spent $743,256 or $65.72 per vote in this Tidewater area. Total spending amounted to $1,288,833. HD66 –Republican Delegate Cox won re-election in this Richmond region spending $1,167, 869 or $62.88 per vote although he transferred a lot of his funds to other Republican candidates for their re-election efforts. Democrat Sponsler spent $30,843 or $2.89 per vote. HD 51 –Democrat Ayala spent $732,076 or $48.02 per vote and Republican Anderson who spent $438,426 or $32.53 per vote in this NOVA area. $1,170,502 was spent by both candidates. HD 94 –In this Tidewater area, Republican Delegate Yancey survived a one-vote margin recount and spent $572,612 or $49.32 per vote. Ironically, he had $127,600 cash on hand. Democrat Simonds spent $567,317 or $48.87 per vote. She had an ending balance of $8,415. Libertarian Bartley spent $675.00 or $.56 per vote. $1,140,313 was spent by the three candidates. HD72 –In this Richmond area open-seat, DemocratVanValkenburg spent $536,259 or $32.19 per vote to defeat Republican Whitlock who spent $525,657 or $35.35 per vote. Total expenditures were $1,061,916. HD 85 –Democrat Turpin spent $602,627 or $50.88 per vote over

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