First-Time Donors

Some gubernatorial hopefuls this year -- bypassing established networks of campaign donors -- have turned to Virginians who had never made political contributions.

Percentage of Virginia Donors Who Were First-Time Givers

Methodology: For the purposes of this visual, a "first-time donor" is someone with a Virginia mailing address who had never made a donation to state candidates, local candidates or state PACs in the 24 years that VPAP has been tracking money in Virginia politics. VPAP's database does not include donors to federal candidates. To calculate the percentage for each candidate, VPAP considered the number of individual persons with a Virginia address who gave at least $100 in 2020 to any committee associated with a major party candidate for governor. The formula used is (Total number of first-time individual donors from Virginia) / (Total number of individual donors from Virginia)

Source: Campaign finance disclosures on file with Virginia Department of Elections.