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A victory on
Tuesday by one of the Democrats backed by Bloomberg's Everytown
for Gun Safety would switch control of the 40-seat Senate in the
state, home of the powerful National Rifle Association gun
lobby.
That could be a big boost for Democratic Governor Terry
McAuliffe, a gun control advocate who is seeking legislative
victories as he heads presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's
election effort in Virginia.
"Guns are always a hot-button issue in Virginia," said Stephen
Farnsworth, a political analyst at the University of Mary
Washington in Fredericksburg. "It's a wise investment to put
money in a campaign that matters."
The Virginia races are an Everytown national focus in the
off-year election. The issue of gun control has gained a higher
profile nationally after a spate of mass shootings, and
President Barack Obama has called gun deaths a "political
choice."
Everytown has bought $1.5 million in TV ads to back Jeremy
McPike, an Alexandria city administrator, in his campaign
against Republican Hal Parrish, a mayor in Washington's suburbs.
The advocacy group founded by Bloomberg, a media tycoon and
former New York mayor, also is pouring $700,000 into ads for Dan
Gecker, who faces Republican lawyer Glen Sturtevant in a
Richmond-area district. Both races are for seats from which
incumbents are retiring.
The advertisements feature Andy Parker, the father of Alison
Parker, a Roanoke, Virginia, television reporter slain in an
August on-air shooting along with her cameraman.
"Politicians' condolences are not enough. It's time for them to
act," Parker says in the ad.
The NRA has spent $370,000 on all Virginia legislative races,
with about $110,000 going to the two Senate campaigns, according
to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks political
spending.
The NRA did not respond to a request for comment.
SURGE OF MONEY
The Virginia races are part of a surge of money by gun control
backers into state elections as efforts to pass federal gun
control legislation have failed.
Gun control groups outspent gun rights advocates by $5.1 million
to $2.8 million in 2014 elections, with Everytown contributing
$4.4 million, according to the nonpartisan National Institute on
Money in State Politics in Helena, Montana.
McAuliffe, a gun control supporter and former chairman of the
Democratic National Committee, was elected in 2013 with backing
from Bloomberg. The 2007 attack at Virginia Tech university in
which 32 people died is the deadliest gun rampage in U.S.
history.
But the Republican-controlled legislature has thwarted gun
control efforts such as background checks for firearms buyers.
Luisa Guerra, Parrish's campaign manager, said that McPike had
altered his stance on gun control since 2013. The Culpeper Times
reported then that he expressed caution about limits on gun
control rights during an unsuccessful race for the state House.
"This is a scorched earth campaign, and people don't like it,"
Guerra said of McPike's TV spots for gun control and other
issues.
McPike has a 43 percent NRA rating, while Parrish's is 79
percent, according to the nonpartisan Vote Smart research group.
McPike and Gecker, a real estate executive, support background
checks for gun buyers and keeping firearms away from domestic
abusers.
Sturtevant, Gecker's opponent, has called for enforcement of
existing state and federal gun laws and helping the mentally ill
before they turn to violence. Sturtevant carries an 86 percent
NRA rating, while Gecker's is zero, Vote Smart said.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Scott Malone and Matthew
Lewis)
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