Bill and Hillary Clinton have found a new candidate for office to support—Virginia Democrat gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger.
Spanberger, a former three-term member of Congress, is set to attend a fundraiser on Monday afternoon in McLean, Virginia. The event will be hosted by former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his wife, Dorothy, along with former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Spanberger leads the race by far in fundraising, with more than $41 million raised through the end of August, compared with her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who had raised nearly $17 million. With support from the Clintons and the McAuliffes, Spanberger is expected to widen her fundraising lead.
McAuliffe, who was governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018 and unsuccessfully sought a second, nonconsecutive term in 2021, is well-known as a prolific campaign fundraiser.
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is seen here speaking to supporters on Nov. 2, 2021, in McLean, Virginia, during his unsuccessful bid for a second, nonconsecutive term. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
McAuliffe began his political career working on Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign as co-chairman, later serving as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005, and then as chairman of Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential primary campaign.
In 2013, The Washington Post described the Clintons’ relationship with the McAuliffes as a “friendship as close as family.” In 2014, he launched a Democratic leadership political action committee called Common Good to support Democratic candidates.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that provides insights into Virginia elections and campaign finances, Common Good has contributed more than $2,700 to controversial Democrat attorney general nominee Jay Jones, who is facing calls to drop out of the race after text messages from 2022 surfaced in which he called for violence against the then-state House of Delegates speaker, a Republican, and wished death for the speaker’s children, while criticizing a deceased moderate Democrat who had received praise from some Republicans.
The lieutenant governor’s race has also seen a partisan fundraising gap. Republican nominee John Reid has been running a campaign on less than $1 million, while his Democrat opponent, state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, has raked in $5 million in donations.
