Cash-flush Democratic power players have flooded the commonwealth with upwards of $10 million, according to an analysis of outside spending. Among the top spenders: Everytown for Gun Safety, a Michael Bloomberg-aligned group, with $2.5 million; the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the party's state-level campaign arm, with $1.3 million; the League of Conservation Voters with $1.5 million; and EMILY’s List with $2.1 million, its single largest investment ever in a state’s legislative races.

Virginia’s unique campaign-finance laws allow these groups, and major liberal donors like George Soros, to contribute unlimited amounts directly to individual campaigns, giving Democrats a formidable financial advantage. They are just two seats away from a majority in the state House of Delegates and one seat away from flipping the state Senate.

Democratic candidates raised a collective $31.8 million by the end of last month, according to the analysis of financial filings by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. That's more than twice as much as they raised in 2015, the last time both chambers of the legislature were on the ballot.

"Never before have Democrats had this kind of money." Virginia state Del. Hala Ayala

In comparison, Republican candidates have raised a collective $21 million so far this cycle, trailing their Democratic counterparts by over $10 million.

Over the next 12 months, Democrats are seeking to make major inroads in state legislatures, which have the power to affect policy at the state level, in addition to election rules like district lines and ballot access. Republicans control the legislatures of 30 states, not including Nebraska's nonpartisan, unicameral legislature, compared to only 18 Democratic states. (Minnesota is split between Democrats who control the state House, and the GOP-controlled state Senate.)

In Virginia, Democrats have not had majorities in either chamber since before 2012, when Republicans took control of the map-drawing process — but they have a strong chance next week to flip both, particularly the state Senate. In 2017, control of the state House memorably came down to one race in Newport News when the Republican incumbent kept his seat after a tiebreaker in which his name was drawn from a bowl.

The Republican State Leadership Committee, the GOP's state legislative campaign vehicle, and its nonprofit arm have invested some $3.3 million in the elections. But the group’s president, Austin Chambers, conceded his party will still be significantly outspent by “all of these random special interest groups” aligned with Democrats “that just continue to pump money every single week into Virginia.”

“They have finally woken up and seen there’s this thing called state legislatures,” said Chambers, whose group outspent its Democratic counterpart nearly 3-to-1 in the run-up to the post-2010 redistricting. “We’re sounding the alarm at what the Democrats are doing on their side right now.”

The impact of the Democratic cash influx is abundantly clear in a northern Virginia state delegate district where Democrat Hala Ayala, a cybersecurity specialist who is one of the first two Hispanic women elected to the state’s lower chamber, faces a rematch with Rich Anderson, the Republican she beat in 2017.

Anderson pulled in over $280,000 by late October. Ayala, buoyed by a six-figure donation from EMILY’s List, has raised over $1.2 million so far. That investment has allowed her to spread her message wide. "We’ve gotten on TV. We’ve gotten on radio. We have three ads that have ran. We got our mailers out early August," she said in an interview last week from her home in Prince William County, about 20 miles south of Washington.

Her ads have become so prominent on cable and digital platforms that Ayala said neighborhood children have referred to her as "that lady on my Twitter." Some approach her to recite the script of her spot that details her time working at a gas station while on Medicaid. "I'm ready to be a meme," she joked.

"Never before have Democrats had this kind of money," Ayala said. "Republicans have been well-funded, mostly by the NRA and all of these special interest groups that never served us any positive benefit."

Democratic presidential candidates have also shown interest in the Virginia elections. Ayala has hosted Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) for campaign events and received a video endorsement from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Former Vice President Joe Biden will join McAuliffe, the former governor, for a get-out-the-vote rally on Sunday in Northern Virginia.

Officials at the DLCC have spent the year working to harness the outsize interest in working in Virginia, organizing weekly calls with outside groups to coordinate efforts, share data and direct resources to the candidates and races in need.

And there's some indication that the grass-roots have also taken an increased interest in Virgina. ActBlue reported that donors in the third quarter of 2019 doubled their contributions compared to the third quarter of 2017.

"It's unprecedented to see this much funding for the state house," DLCC President Jessica Post said. "These are full campaigns. They look like congressional campaigns for much smaller geographic state house districts," Post said, noting some candidates have the funds to hire finance directors, full field teams and digital staff.

The investment is a sharp turnaround from the 2010 cycle. Fresh off President Barack Obama’s win and an expanded House majority, Democrats largely neglected state legislative races in the 2010 cycle, as Republicans grabbed control over the mapmaking in key states such as North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

In Virginia, Democrats are already better positioned than the last redraw, when a Republican held the governorship. The GOP-crafted congressional map gave Republicans eight of the state's 11 congressional seats after the 2012 election. Democrats now hold seven seats after three women ousted Republican incumbents in the 2018 midterms.

Virginia is the only state with competitive off-year state legislative elections. Democratic strategists will have to likely work harder to keep a focus on down-ballot races in 2020, when the party will attempt to take the White House and Senate while defending its House majority.

In the past few years, some of the biggest names in Democratic politics have waged a nationwide campaign to prevent a 2010 redux. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a new group led by former Attorney General Eric Holder with support from former President Barack Obama and McAuliffe, vowed to raise and spend tens of millions on state-level races. The three headlined a fundraiser last week in New York, where McAuliffe plugged Virginia's elections to deep-pocketed donors.

Other groups have promised hefty financial commitments. EMILY's List will invest $20 million in state legislative races. The DLCC, which outraised its GOP counterpart during the first half of 2019, said it is on track to collect $50 million this redistricting cycle.

Ahead of the post-2020 redistricting, Democrats are eager to break GOP trifectas in Florida, Texas, Ohio and Georgia. Another top target this cycle is North Carolina — where Republicans control both chambers, and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper would have no veto power over the map if he wins reelection next year.

Virginia's elections offer a chance for Democrats to pilot their strategy.

"Hopefully we can learn all the good lessons and put that into place everywhere we go in 2020," EMILY's List President Stephanie Schriock said.