Politics

Bloomberg Gun Control Lobby Flushes Another $400K In Virginia Governor’s Race

(LEE SNIDER PHOTO IMAGES / Shutterstock.com)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Jack Crowe Political Reporter
Font Size:

Michael Bloomberg’s gun-control advocacy organization announced Monday it will contribute an additional $700,000 toward 2017 Virginia elections.

The group, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, pledged to contribute $400,000 to Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam’s campaign and $300,000 to to Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring’s re-election bid in the final two weeks of the race, according to The Washington Post. This latest pledge comes atop a previous commitment of $1 million in combined contributions to the pair of Democratic candidates, bringing the group’s total spending on Virginia races to almost $2 million.

The latest influx of cash comes amid an increasingly close Virginia gubernatorial race. The latest round of polling from Monmouth University has the election deadlocked with Republican Ed Gillespie leading 48 to 47 percent.

Everytown also announced they would redirect $90,000 additionally intended for mailers toward radio ads targeting black Americans. The ad shares the story of Lucy McBath, a black woman whose son was shot and killed at a Florida gas station.

“African-American turnout will be crucial on Nov. 7 — and we want to make sure black voters know what the stakes are in this race,” Brynne Craig, an Everytown strategist, told WaPo. “Ed Gillespie walks in lock step with the NRA and his policies will make black communities less safe in the Commonwealth.”

Northam reiterated his call for an assault rifle and high capacity magazine ban as gun control captured the national debate in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre. Gillespie, on the other hand, expressed a willingness to explore bump stock regulations, which would restrict the sale of a device used by the Las Vegas shooter to increase his rate of fire. With the exception of bump stocks, Gillespie has maintained his opposition to additional gun control measures.

In a strong show of support, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is spending at least $760,000 on television commercials praising Gillespie’s second amendment stance.

Bloomberg’s group has spent inordinate sums trying to influence Virginia elections in the past.

Everytown spent $2,368,655 in Virginia on two state senate races in 2015, but failed to flip either seat. (RELATED: Remember The Last Time Gun Control Activists Threw Millions At Virginia? GOP Closed The Gap)

Virginia Democratic political operative Paul Goldman attributed the Democrats’ 2015 failure to the influx of out of state ad dollars thrust on Virginians in the days leading up to the 2015 election.

“Definitely Bloomberg backlash,” Goldman told the Richmond Times-Dispatch following the election.

Follow Jack on Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel