Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Snyder announced Monday that he raised $6.4 million in the first two months of his campaign. It is unclear, however, how much of that money was raised from external donors, or how much of it comes from Snyder, a venture capitalist.
Snyder is seeking the Republican nomination to run for governor this year in what many people believe is the best opportunity for the GOP to win a statewide race since their last victory in 2009.
Snyder is the first of the Republican candidates to release a fundraising figure, but the official reports from each campaign are due by April 15. In addition to Snyder, Delegate Kirk Cox, state Senator Amanda Chase and former Carlyle Group executive Glenn Youngkin are competing for the nomination.
Snyder and Youngkin weren’t officially in the race prior to the last filing deadline at the end of 2020 — so April 15 will be the first peek into who is donating to their campaign. Cox entered the race in November of last year and reported nearly $750K in donations at the December 31 deadline. Chase launched her campaign in early 2020 and reported close to $670K at the end of the year.
Octavia Johnson, Peter Doran, and Sergio de la Pena are also vying for the nomination, but they have yet to display any momentum or endorsements in the race.
The Snyder campaign has not responded to questions from Virginia Scope as to how much of this money was donated or loaned from Snyder himself.
“The outpouring of support is overwhelming for our conservative movement to open our schools, save small businesses, and restore the God-given rights of all Virginians,” Snyder said in a press release Monday. “I’m grateful for those across the Commonwealth joining our campaign to bring leadership back to Richmond and work to make Virginia #1 again.”
The fundraising announcement from Snyder comes one day after a story in the Washington Post highlighted the behind-the-scenes moves that Snyder’s campaign has made in attempts to win the convention. The story paints Snyder as a political insider, which is the opposite of the campaign that he has run so far.
Additionally, on Monday, Snyder announced the endorsement of Lt. Col. Oliver North, a Vietnam veteran and former President of the National Rifle Association. “Virginia’s next governor needs to open our schools, open our economy, open our houses of worship, protect the sanctity of life, and vigorously defend our second amendment,” North said in a statement Monday.
The Republican nominee will be chosen in an unassembled convention taking place at remote voting locations across Virginia on May 8. Republicans that pre-registered and were cleared by their local committee will go to vote at one of the remote locations with a ranked-choice ballot. The Democratic nominee will be chosen in a June 8 primary election in which any registered voter in Virginia can participate.
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