Virginia Democrats Outraise GOP

The Virginia Democratic Party has raised nearly four times as much money as the state GOP over the past four months, according to campaign finance reports.

Friday was the deadline for both parties to submit state campaign finance reports that show how much money each side has in its state account.

From July 1 to Sept. 30, the Virginia Democratic Party raised $732,000. It now has $444,000 in the bank to use to influence the outcome of state races. The Republican Party of Virginia raised $196,000. It has $144,000 in the bank.

Although the money in each account is generally restricted to state races, a portion of it can be transferred to the respective party's federal account. Those accounts, which must abide by federal fundraising restrictions, can be used to finance get out the vote efforts in this year's presidential and congressional races.

The Virginia Democratic Party has transferred more than $200,000 to its federal account since July 1, suggesting its fundraising advantage over the GOP is not as great as it may appear.

The Republican National Committee is almost exclusively funding the party's federal efforts in Virginia this year, allowing the state party to concentrate the bulk of its resources on next year's gubernatorial and state legislative elections.