Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Terry McAuliffe raised $24,776,522 from donations this election cycle, outpacing Cucinelli’s $14,815, 328. Political industries and politics sectors were significant donors for both candidates, accounting for about $8.5 million of McAuliffe’s funds and $9.2 million of Cucinelli’s.
McAuliffe received a multitude of donations from single issue groups, insurance agencies and labor organizations. The Single Issue Groups were of particular importance to McAuliffe’s cause, as their donations followed closely behind the donations of political industries at $7.5 million.
Donating $6.2 million, the Democratic Governors Association (Washington, DC) provided McAuliffe with roughly 25 percent of his campaign money.
Other significant donors in McAuliffe’s campaign, all putting forth over $1 million, include Independence USA PAC (Washington, DC), Va League of Conservation Voters (Richmond), NextGen Climate Action (San Francisco, CA), Democratic Party – Virginia (Richmond) and Planned Parenthood Votes (New York, NY). McAuliffe has drawn clear differences between himself and Cuccinelli on the issues of climate change and abortion.
The most recent major donor to McAuliffe’s campaign was facebook co-founder Sean Parker, who contributed $500,000. Former President Bill Clinton donated $100,000 and has made several campaign stops for McAuliffe, including one in Charlottesville last week.
Center for Politics Spokesperson Geoff Skelley said the financial status of a candidate in a campaign has a strong correlation with election results. The candidate who raises the most money often wins. This correlation is most likely due to the increased amount of resources which an abundance of campaign funds allows candidates to access.
Both McAuliffe and Cucinelli alike have put most of their funds towards advertising themselves to the public, advocating their policies and attacking their opponent.
While McAuliffe was successful in raising more election funds, the former chairman of the Democratic Party came under attack from Cuccinelli for his background as a businessman. Cuccinelli attacked McAuliffe’s accepting donations from the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry, which made the largest in-state contribution to McAuliffe. The company’s headquarters is in Vienna, Virginia.
“Significant sums of money have changed hands and Terry McAuliffe’s denials simply are not plausible,” a statement on Cuccinelli’s website said a few weeks ago about the LISCR donation.
The LICSR, which manages Liberia’s shipping industry, contributed $120,000 to McAuliffe’s gubernatorial bid. In a 2001 report, a United Nations investigative team noted that LISCR had directed funds to a company which had violated Security Council sanctions.
According to an October 28 Washington Post/Abt-RBI poll, McAuliffe leads Virginia with 51 percent support, compared to 39 percent for Ken Cuccinelli and eight percent for Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis, with a 4.5% margin of error.
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