Virginia Democrats receive large out-of-state donation from Illinois a week before 2023 races

Virginia Democrats are receiving heavy out-of-state donations for the state legislative races just six days before the 2023 election, with the latest donation coming from a nonprofit organization affiliated with Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL).

Think Big America is donating $250,000 to the Commonwealth’s Democrats. Of that, $25,000 apiece will go to four Democrats running in battleground state Senate districts: state Dels. Danica Roem and Schuyler Van Valkenburg, former prosecutor Russet Perry, and entrepreneur Joel Griffin, according to NBC News. The remaining $150,000 will be allocated to the Democratic Party of Virginia.

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It is the third contribution Think Big America has announced since it launched two weeks ago with the aim to expand abortion ballot measures across the country in 2024. It has donated to groups in Ohio and in Nevada.

“Abortion access is on the line in Virginia. Given the chance, anti-choice extremists and their far-right allies will roll back reproductive freedoms in the last state in the south where women’s freedoms are still protected,” Think Big America spokeswoman Christina Amestoy said in a statement. “Think Big America is committed to fighting extremism at every level and will always work to defend a woman’s right to choose.”

The 2023 elections in Virginia are shaping up to be one of the most important this year, as every seat in the state legislature — 40 in the Senate and 100 in the House of Delegates — is up for election. Republicans seek to hold the House and flip the Senate, which would be a key legislative win for Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), who has faced roadblocks pushing a conservative agenda through the General Assembly due to the divided trifecta.

In September, Democrats raised $8.8 million for their House of Delegates candidates, while Republicans raised $8.3 million. On the state Senate side, Democrats raised $6.5 million compared to Republicans’ $6 million.

The governor poured significant sums from his record-breaking fundraising hauls into helping Republicans grow their ranks at the statehouse. If the election ends in Republicans’ favor, it could serve as a springboard for Youngkin into national office, possibly setting himself up as a Republican presidential candidate as early as 2028.

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Abortion has taken center stage in Virginia’s 2023 elections. Youngkin has pledged to sign an abortion limit at 15 weeks of gestation if Republicans take the legislature. Democrats, meanwhile, have made abortion a focal point in their campaign messaging in the state, spending major money on ad campaigns blasting the GOP’s plans as “extreme” and “terrifying.”

Youngkin’s PAC, Spirit of Virginia, has also launched its own ad campaigns, including a TV ad where a woman says, “It’s just not true — their lies about abortion. It’s disinformation, politics at its worst.”