Spanberger’s GOP challenger raises over $1.8 million in third quarter

Republican House candidate Nick Freitas reported raising a record-breaking $1.8 million in the third quarter of 2020 in his race against incumbent Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), according to figures exclusively obtained by The Hill. 

The third-quarter fundraising haul far surpasses his second-quarter total of $405,000. Freitas’s campaign has yet to officially release its cash-on-hand total but estimates it will be around $700,000. 

Additionally, Freitas’s latest fundraising surpassed the previous Virginia House GOP single-quarter fundraising record of $1.5 million, which was set by former Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) in the third quarter of 2010. 

Spanberger has not yet released her third-quarter fundraising figures but so far has outraised Freitas, raking in $4.86 million this cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Spanberger has a cash-on-hand total of total of $4.08 million.

The contest is one of the most-watched House races two years after Spanberger unseated Republican incumbent Rep. Dave Brat (Va.). The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a “toss-up.”

Spanberger is one of 30 Democrats who flipped a district in 2018 that was won by President Trump in 2016.

Now, Republicans are intent on flipping it back. Brat and former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who was unseated by Brat in 2014, teamed up last month on Freitas’s general election finance committee. The two joined former Rep. Tom Bliley (R-Va.), who represented the district for 20 years before Cantor, on the committee.