WASHINGTON (CNN) More than $166,000 in contributions, mailings and digital ads to help a political newcomer take on a Republican incumbent in a Richmond-area Senate district. More than $146,000 to help an Air Force veteran seek an open Senate seat in a fast-growing suburban county. About $75,000 to target the only Republican representing Northern Virginia in the state's House of Delegates.

Everytown officials -- who provided CNN with details of their Virginia strategy -- say their approach to the off-year election demonstrates the potency of the gun-safety message one year before the nation heads to the polls to decide control of Congress and the White House. The spending also underscores how aggressively the deep-pocketed group will pursue its agenda in the months ahead. Everytown outspent the embattled National Rifle Association by roughly 8-to-1 in Virginia, plowing money into the state to target vulnerable Republicans months in advance of Tuesday's election.

"Gun safety will be one of the defining issues of 2020," said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown.

Virginia Republicans went into Tuesday's election defending paper-thin majorities: 20-19 in the state Senate and 51-48 in the House of Delegates, with a vacancy in each chamber.

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