‘Virginia Value Pack' Candidates Push Fundraising, Say Democratic Party Needs To Invest More In Them

By Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury

September 15, 2025

Virginia’s Democrats have touted the fact that they are running candidates in all 100 House of Delegates seats, but the party isn’t always putting its money where its mouth is, some candidates say.

The Democratic National Committee, typically focused on D.C. politics, has expanded its efforts to boost parties at the state level. Chair Ken Martin announced earlier this year that the DNC would disburse $17,500 per month to Virginia’s state Democratic Party. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee recently pumped another $1.5 million into Virginia’s races, as part of a seven figure investment.

“The role of political parties is to build infrastructure everywhere,” Martin said earlier this year.

But not every candidate running for Virginia’s House of Delegates this year has directly benefited so far.

A special fundraising page on Act Blue, a Democratic fundraising site, dubs the 27 Democratic candidates for House seats in Republican-leaning areas the “Virginia Value Pack” who are “punching well above their weight.”

The Act Blue page’s goal is $70,000 which can be split between the candidates, for which about $60,000 has already been raised from individuals chipping in.

Cindy Green, who is challenging Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Washington, in House District 44, said it’s heartening to see support from voters.

She and the other 26 candidates also wrote a joint letter to incumbent Democratic delegates and senators asking for support. Some answered the call, like Sens. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, Saddam Salim, D-Fairfax, Kannan Srinivasan, D-Loudoun, and Dels. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, and David Reid, D-Fairfax, Green said.

First-time candidate Stacey Carroll, a military veteran and CPA in Northern Virginia, also donated $500, Green said.

“She’s running just like the rest of us are,” Green said. “So that was very impressive.”

The shared resource from Carroll comes from a sizable coffer for a newcomer. Carroll is taking on Del. Paul Milde, R-Stafford, in Republican-leaning House District 64, which is eyed as one that Democrats could flip. DLCC, for instance, included Carroll in their latest round of candidate spotlights.

Green said it’s “ironic” that Democratic leadership in Virginia touts having 100 candidates this year, while not financially backing all of them.

She said she understands most resources should be directed at those in competitive or potentially flippable seats, but says a little bit would go a long way for candidates like herself.

“A campaign like mine doesn’t take a lot of money to provide support,” Green said.

Her money goes toward brochures to hand out when door-knocking, yard signs, radio ads, and billboards. With a small campaign of volunteers who have full-time jobs like herself, she doesn’t have to worry about paying staff or consultants or large advertisement blitzes.

“We’re scrappy,” Green said. “We know how to get stuff done.”

Green said that she and the 26 other Democrats running in Republican strongholds are doing it for a few reasons: to give voters choices, help build future party benches in the areas, and to support up-ballot votes for Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi and Jay Jones as governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

For Green, in particular, it’s also about making her opponent spend money in his district.

“I’m trying to keep O’Quinn’s money in his district,” she said. “He’s a piggy bank for his party. That will continue as long as no one is challenging him.”

First elected in 2011, O’Quinn has yet to have a Democratic opponent and has only been challenged twice by a Republican who first ran as an independent.

He has since risen through the ranks in Republican leadership to the role of Deputy House Leader in the GOP caucus. Not having to run a serious campaign against challengers means his coffers have continued to grow. O’Quinn has donated nearly a million dollars in political contributions to other Republican candidates.

To ward off Green, he may not need to spend much money locally in places like Washington County and Bristol, but as she ramps up her ground game, he might feel compelled to.

Though DPVA and the House Democratic Caucus have not directly supported the candidates in donations, caucus spokeswoman Amber Gantt said that Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, and DPVA Chair Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, have given money to Rural Ground Game, an organization supporting rural candidates.

Locally-rooted organizers are otherwise taking matters into their own hands.

Rebecca Daly, chair of 9th Congressional District Democratic Committee, said she has done what she can to boost rural Democrats in deep Southwest Virginia. That included hosting candidate training for 13 of the 27 “Value Pack” Democrats within the district.

She said that behind the scenes, she has been “preaching” to the state party officials for years about investment in that side of the state.

She doesn’t feel they’re always getting it, evidenced by receiving just 700 yard signs for Spanberger, Hashmi and Jones recently. With the 9th District being “about the size of the state of New Jersey” Daly said she has to sort out how to divide them up between over 20 local committees and a handful of Young Democrat committees.

“The position has always been to take care of the crescent,” Daley said of Democratic strongholds in Northern and Central Virginia into Hampton Roads.

Though the caucus and state party have invested predominantly in Virginia’s Democratic bases, candidates who proved themselves in the past with narrow losses are getting more investment this time. One of those is Lily Franklin in House District 41. Having narrowly lost to Del. Chris Obenshain, R-Montgomery, in 2023, she now has nearly double his donations — over $350,00 of which comes from the caucus and DPVA. That’s a campaign war chest of about $540,000 to his roughly $248,000.

Green and Daly know most Democrats in rural or certain suburban areas aren’t likely to perform as well as Franklin has, but they imagine a day that could be different.

“If we don’t build, we’re never going to win in other areas,” Daley said.

This story was originally published by the Virginia Mercury. For more stories from the Virginia Mercury, visit Virginia Mercury.com.