Ballot measures are sometimes called the most direct expressions of American democracy. And yet there has been nothing direct about the money spent on the Virginia redistricting referendum.
Dark money has flowed into the campaign at an astounding rate: Of the $98 million raised by the three groups that have bought the most advertising in the race, at least 96 percent has come from nonprofit groups that do not disclose their donors, according to a New York Times analysis of state campaign finance disclosures.
Both proponents and opponents of the ballot measure depended to an extraordinary degree on such nonprofit groups, which are increasingly being used in American elections at the federal and state level.
The main Democratic pro-redistricting group, Virginians for Fair Elections, raised over $64 million in cash and in-kind contributions. At least $61 million of that came from dark-money nonprofit groups, including $38 million from House Majority Forward, a nonprofit aligned with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, who would probably become speaker if Democrats retake the House in November.
Not to be outdone, the main Republican anti-redistricting group, Virginians for Fair Maps, raised more than $24 million — almost all from a nonprofit group with the same name. A second Republican group involved in the race, Justice for Democracy, collected $9.4 million, also almost entirely from dark-money nonprofits.
As of Tuesday afternoon, groups aligned with Democrats had spent more than $56 million on advertisements, according to data from AdImpact, a media tracking firm. Republican groups had spent only about $25 million.
However, this past week — for the first time in the election cycle — Republican groups spent more on advertising than their Democratic counterparts: $9.6 million compared with the Democrats’ $9.3 million.
The staggering amount of money befits the stakes. Democrats currently control six seats in the state’s 11-member delegation, but they believe they can potentially win 10 of them in November if the state’s lines are redrawn.
Theodore Schleifer is a Times reporter covering billionaires and their impact on the world.
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