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       RICHMOND — Money is pouring into Virginia’s fall legislative election campaigns to fuel a battle for control of the General Assembly. Democratic candidates are outpacing Republicans in overall fundraising but have less cash in the bank in House of Delegates contests, according to campaign finance data for most of June filed by a Monday night deadline.

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       A total of $56 million has been raised so far this year by candidates for the General Assembly, up 43 percent from the same period in the last comparable election cycle four years ago, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

       All 140 seats in the legislature are on the Nov. 7 ballot. The contests are turbocharged by a new set of electoral maps that caused a wave of lawmaker retirements and left many districts with no incumbent. In addition, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) — who has been flirting with a presidential run — is bringing in massive amounts of national money in an all-out effort to win control of the General Assembly.

       Youngkin raises big money, but Democrats have edge in Va. campaign cash

       Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia political action committee reported raising more than $5.9 million from April 1 through June 30, a record amount for a Virginia governor at this point in the term of office, according to VPAP.

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       Legislative candidates reported on a different time frame than political action committees, filing receipts for the period of June 9-30. For those three weeks, Democratic candidates for state Senate raised a total of more than $3.1 million compared with a total of more than $1.4 million for Republican Senate candidates.

       Democrats aim to counter Youngkin’s vast reserves by stockpiling money in their party caucuses. The House Democratic Caucus reported raising almost $2.4 million for the three weeks and the Senate Democratic Caucus reported more than $1.5 million for the period. Some of that money is contributed by individual candidates or retiring lawmakers — such as outgoing Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax), who donated $350,000 to the Senate caucus.

       Democrats are defending a 22-18 advantage in the 40-seat Senate.

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       The top Senate fundraiser was former Democratic delegate Lashrecse Aird, who defeated incumbent Sen. Joseph D. Morrissey (D-Richmond) in a closely watched June 20 primary and reported raising more than $544,000 for the three weeks. Nearly $439,000 of Aird’s total was in-kind services, largely related to get-out-the-vote efforts.

       Her Republican opponent in the deep blue district, Eric Ditri, reported raising $2,252 for the period.

       The next highest fundraiser was Republican Juan Pablo Segura, running against Democrat Russet Perry in Senate District 31. That Leesburg and Loudoun County race could be one of the tightest and costliest contests in the state. Segura reported raising more than $380,000 for the period, and finished with about $409,000 in cash on hand.

       More than $215,000 of Segura’s contributions during the period came from Renew Virginia, a political action committee started earlier this year with a $1 million donation from Securiport LLC, a border security company run by his father, Enrique Segura.

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       Perry reported raising a little more than $57,000 for the three weeks and finished with almost $99,000 cash in hand.

       In the House, Republicans are defending what was a 52-48 majority in this year’s session. For the three weeks in June, Democratic candidates reported raising a total of almost $2.36 million compared with nearly $1.54 million for Republican candidates. The GOP had more cash in the bank, though — $7.8 million compared with about $7.3 million for Democrats.

       House Minority Leader Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) was the top overall fundraiser for the period, reporting almost $247,000 in contributions and finishing with a cash balance of almost $286,000. His opponent in the safe blue district, Republican James M. “Jim” Wright, did not appear to file fundraising totals.

       Scott, meanwhile, donated $600,000 from his war chest to the House Democratic Caucus to help other candidates get elected.

       His counterpart from across the aisle was the candidate with the next-highest fundraising total: House Majority Leader Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott) raised $140,000 for the three weeks and reported ending the period with $525,000 cash in hand.

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