In the month since early voting for the redistricting amendment began, it’s been the “Yes” campaign that’s raked in the big bucks.

Large donations bloated the Virginians for Fair Elections’ money tally to an eye-watering $53 million, while the cash for the Virginians for Fair Maps, the anti-amendment group, struggled to flow in the first few weeks of early voting.

However, anti-amendment groups saw their fortunes changed as higher profile donors got involved in fundraising and Virginia Republicans make campaign stops to rally voters against the proposed constitutional amendment.

Among those officials who are touring the state on behalf of the anti-redistricting amendment are former Governor Glenn Youngkin and former Attorney General Jason Miyares, the latter of whom serves as the co-chair for Virginians for Fair Maps, the best-funded anti-redistricting PAC to hit the filing sheets thus far. Other supporters include Speaker Mike Johnson and Congressman John McGuire (VA-05).

In an interview with WTOP’s Nick Ianelli, former Governor Youngkin went on record as a critic of the composition of the maps— “[Y]ou have Northern Virginia spread out through throughout the entire state. They have this new District 7, which reaches into Shenandoah County and down into deep central Virginia. You have a new number, congressional District 8, which stretches all the way from Northern Virginia into Hampton Roads, and you have a new District 1 that stretches from Northern Virginia down all the way through into nearly Rappahannock. I mean, this is a crazy map, and Virginians don’t want it.”

How favorable is the redistricting push?

The polling numbers from Washington Post-Schar would suggest that the amendment and the current governor are of middling popularity, with 52% of likely voters saying that they would support the amendment and 47% would oppose the amendment, if they were to vote that day. 

The governor’s approval rating currently sits at 47%, five points behind the approval rating for the amendment, while 46% of respondents disapprove of her job so far as governor. This is the lowest an early-term approval rating has fallen since 1993, and the highest disapproval rating for the same window of time. 

In a move that very well could be purely coincidental, the pro-amendment ad spots featuring Governor Spanberger are no longer on the air in the week leading up to April 21st.

Who’s paying for those ads on my television?

As we approach the last week of early voting, both the pro-redistricting and anti-redistricting campaigns received their fair share of big-money, untraceable donations from their corresponding fundraising outfits. 

The anti-redistricting group Justice for Democracy PAC, which is run by former Delegate A.C. Cordoza, received $2.5 million from Per Aspera Policy, Inc., which has been described as a “dark money” group whose donors are undisclosed to the public. This is the same PAC which made national headlines after they circulated inflammatory anti-amendment mailers that used KKK imagery, as well as the mailers which included an image of former President Obama accompanied by a quote that rails against gerrymandering.

Per Aspera Policy, Inc., is a 501(c)(4) organization with connections to Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, although the group refused to comment on the relationship when asked by VPM. 

The big money coming into the pro-amendment groups come from large, national PACs that are funding other Democrat-proposed redistricting efforts nationwide. The lion’s share of the money, some $32 million, came from House Majority Forward, a self-described “progressive, non-profit organization.” 

The group had previously paid for opposition adverts against Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02) and in support of Abigail Spanberger’s congressional campaign. The group’s reach stretches far enough that former President Barack Obama appeared in an ad spot in support of the proposed maps. 

The financial aspect, tightening tensions as both pro- and anti- amendment groups insist on “fairness” as a keystone of both campaigns, as well as the low early-term approval rating for the Governor will all factor into which campaign will speak to the interests of the most voters. In the meantime, though, we’ll have to wait and see.

Election Day is April 21st, and early voting ends on April 18th. 

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