I got some fundraising texts this week from congressional candidates that got me thinking.

Raising money is normal candidate stuff. The problem is that we have statewide elections and House of Delegate elections in Virginia this year, and congressional races are a year away. So, two things.

First of all, I think these national candidates – whose elections are more than a year away, should pay attention to supporting the local candidates in their districts this year and help make sure Virginia elects Democrats at the state level and in the House of delegates districts rather than focus on raising money this month. At least one of these candidates is doing that. When I spoke with Salam Bhatti a few weeks ago and mentioned this to him he took it to heart – and went straight out and created an ActBlue page that would take donations for all of the House of delegates candidates in the first Congressional District.

I think the Shannon Taylors of the world ought to do the same thing.

Many of the candidates running for House of Delegate seats whose districts touch CD1 have difficult races in red parts of the Commonwealth. These are districts that the party doesn’t think a Democrat can win, so they don’t think it makes sense to support their campaigns. 

I disagree because these guys are out there on the ground in a statewide election year. They’re knocking on doors, they’re on social media, they’re putting up signs. They’re talking to people. They’re going to meet and greets, talking to voters. They’re working to get out the vote. Voters they turn out for their campaigns will probably also support the statewide candidates on the blue side, which means they’re doing a lot of groundwork for the statewide candidates. So, if you support Abigail Spanberger, you should want to support these guys.

The Democratic Party, and the elected officials in Virginia who already hold General Assembly seats, could provide critical financial support to these efforts. Democratic Party Senators, who don’t have to stand for election until 2027, could donate to these campaigns. Candidates in House races who have no Republican opponent could give critical financial support to these fellow Democrats.

It’s difficult to overstate the epic disaster we would have in this commonwealth if Winsome Sears is governor and somehow managed to get control of the legislature. If you think it’s bad at the national level, wait until you see that at the Commonwealth level.

So this is what we need to do. Sixteen candidates for the House of Delegates in Virginia have no opponent. They they’re sitting on money, some of them with more than a million dollars, some of them with more than half a million. Nine or ten have more than $50,000. They don’t need this money for their own races.

It makes no sense at all for them not to be supporting these candidates in other races, even those they don’t believe can win. They should also be supporting these red district candidates – we’re not going to grow the majority unless we start winning elections in these districts that look like they’re too red to win.

My good friend Fergie Reid, who is a civil rights icon in Virginia, has done a lot of work trying to make sure we have a candidate on the ballot in every district. This year he succeeded, despite Democratic Party apathy.

Twenty-seven of these candidates run in these red districts that nobody thinks we can win, so they get no Party support. So his good friend Charles Gaba set up what he calls the Value Pack 27 ActBlue Page similar to Salaam’s List. Donations made on this page will be split among the 27 Democrats who are running in these hard races.

My ask is that if you know a Virginia legislator who is sitting on a campaign chest but doesn’t have an opponent, reach out to them. Ask them why they’re withholding important support Democratic Party candidates who need help in red districts. 

I’m talking about Don Scott and a lot of these Northern Virginia candidates. The Senate candidates that don’t have an election until 2027. They have two and a half years before they face reelection. They can donate to these candidates who may not win but work hard to turn out the vote in these districts. 

Go write a check yourself. We need to support these Democrats. I ran for office twice in Virginia in very red districts so I know this from personal experience that it doesn’t take a lot of money to mount a little bit of a campaign and make a difference. When I ran for the House of delegates in 2021, a statewide year, I pulled 12,000 votes in a very red district – 12,000 votes that probably went to Terry McAuliffe in his losing effort.

If we can get these guys a little bit of money for more signs, more direct mail, more postcards, more meet and greets, then we can help get out the vote not only for them, but for the state party, as well. That means Abigail Spanberger has a better chance to win. Ghazala Hashmi has a better chance to win.

Jay Jones has a better chance to win. If Jay Jones is attorney general, he’ll push back on the Trump administration by filing lawsuits when they do things that violate the Constitution. Jason Miyares won’t do that. If Abigail Spanberger is governor, she will sign bills that make Virginia a better place to live. Winsome Sears will not. 

We need to do everything we can. The Democratic Party needs to put the pedal to the metal. The national candidates running for Congress next year need to put the pedal to the metal. We all need to do everything we can to get these folks elected and protect democracy. In Virginia, we can protect it this year in the Commonwealth even if our chance to protect it nationally doesn’t come until next year.