Nonpartisan group finds that the top three gubernatorial candidates supported by women are women

With at least three women vying for their parties' nominations for governor, it should come as no surprise that they lead the list of candidates backed most by donations from women, according to a report by the non-profit and nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

Former Democratic Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy has raised the most money from women among all of the gubernatorial candidates, VPAP reported Monday. Seventy percent of the $1.8 million her campaign has raised come from women.

State Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan was second, with 63% of her $1.06 million donation base being women.

Carroll Foy and McClellan, both natives of Petersburg, were the only two candidates whose majority of donors are women. A common theme of their campaigns has focused on challenges to the status quo of Virginia Democrats traditionally being led by men.

In her campaign literature, Carroll Foy often focuses on her upbringing in Petersburg, a relatively fiscally stressed city, and how she overcame childhood adversities to be among the first women to enroll at Virginia Military Institute and making her mark in northern Virginia politics.

Third, with 33%, is state Sen. Amanda F; Chase of Chesterfield County, one of four Republican hopefuls in the race. Chase was followed by three Democrats — Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax, Del, Lee Carter of Manassas and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, with 29%, 21% and 19%, respectively.

Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights and a former speaker of the House of Delegates, counted 11% of his donor base as women.

Two other GOP candidates, Glenn Youngkin and Pete Snyder, officially entered the race recently and were not included in the VPAP report.

So who is donating?

Of the top seven donors listed in Carroll Foy's finance reports [donations of $100,000 or more], two of them are well-known Democratic benefactors. At the top of that list is Charlottesville resident Sonjia Smith with a $250,000 donation and Dr. Karla Jurvetson of California, who has given $110,000.

McClellan's top donors ae both from Charlottesville — management consultant Julie Barron Morrill, who has given the campaign $105,000; and Sarah McLean, who has donated $100,000.

Chase, who has a campaign war chest of more than $668,000, lists her top women donors as Richmond residents Betty Collier and Caryn Gibson. According to her campaign's finance statements, Collier is a frequent donor to Chase's Senate campaigns and has given $10,000 to her run for governor. Gibson's donation of $13,438 in August 2020 was in-kind and covered air travel.

According to the reports, Chase leads Cox in the amount of donations, even though Cox is considered a master at fundraising. Chase was the first Republican to announce her candidacy back in February 2020, and Cox joined the race nine months later.

Because both are in the midst of the 2021 legislative sessions, they and McClellan had to put a pause on fundraising.

The fact that Fairfax is leading the male candidates among donations from women is a bit eye-opening given the fact that Fairfax was the subject of sexual-assault allegations stemming from 2000 and 2004.

More:Fairfax: I plan to run for governor

Two women claimed Fairfax raped them on separate occasions and in different locations, one in Boston and the other in North Carolina. Fairfax has denied the allegations, but there were bipartisan calls in both the House of Delegates and Senate for him to step down.

Despite his low number of donors who are women, McAuliffe still has been able to raise more than $5 million for his campaign. That is funded in large part because of his close ties to Democratic allies across the country, and his closeness with top-drawer Democratic figures, including President Joe Biden, and former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

VPAP based its findings on the total of itemized contributions made to the campaigns by individual donors in the calendar year of 2020. Donations from political action committees or corporations were not counted. Gender identification was done by the VPAP staff based on Social Security data and other information.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is the news director of The Progress-Index, located in his hometown of Petersburg, Va. He is also the breaking-news coordinator and has been known to "nerd out" over political news coverage and history. Contact Bill at batkinson@progress-index.com, and follow him on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI, and subscribe to us at progress-index.com.