Beth Macy raised $350,000 within 24 hours after she officially announced her run for Congress in Virginia’s 6th Congressional District, her campaign said on Wednesday.
That haul puts her financially well over the two other Democrats in the race to challenge incumbent Republican Rep. Ben Cline, of Botetourt County, and within striking distance of Cline’s cash on hand, according to data available through the Federal Elections Commission.
“Virginians have had enough. They want leaders who are focused on working-class families, not billionaire donors,” Macy said in a statement on Wednesday. “I’m running to hold politicians and their powerful backers accountable. Our neighbors want healthcare that won’t bankrupt them, they want to buy groceries without fear of what’s on the screen, and they want a government that has their back.”
She has said in an interview with Cardinal News that her campaign will not accept corporate PAC money. Instead, she intends to fund her bid through “$10, $50, $100 at a time, by going out and talking to people.”
Macy launched her campaign to run for Virginia’s 6th Congressional District on Tuesday. She joined two other Democratic candidates, Pete Barlow and Ken Mitchell, seeking to challenge Cline, of Botetourt County, for his seat in the 2026 midterm election. The Democratic primary contest to determine who will face Cline will likely take place in June.
Cline had $400,736 cash on hand at the end of September, while Barlow had $56,468 and Mitchell had $46,325. Candidates for Congress are required to file quarterly reports with the FEC ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The next filing deadline for the year-end quarter is January 31, 2026.
What other Democrats made in their first 24 hours
Macy’s first 24-hour haul put her right in the middle, financially, of Democratic candidates currently in other, much more competitive seats.
Macy pulled in twice the amount of cash in the first day of her campaign compared to Shannon Taylor, a commonwealth’s attorney in Henrico who sought statewide office in 2025. Taylor raised $175,000 in the first 24 hours of her campaign for the 1st Congressional District, currently held by Republican incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman. The 1st District race was shifted on Tuesday from a “likely Republican” win to “leans Republican,” in Taylor’s favor, by the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan elections race rater.
Former Congresswoman Elaine Luria, a Democrat, saw $500,000 in fundraising in the first 24 hours of her campaign. Luria is seeking to unseat Republican incumbent Rep. Jennifer Kiggans in the 2nd Congressional District. That race was shifted from a “leans Republican” outcome to a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report on Tuesday.
Macy acknowledged that Cline’s seat will be difficult to win for a Democrat. Cook Political considers the 6th District to be “solidly Republican.”
The 6th District has been represented by a member of the GOP since 1993. Cline, who was first elected to Congress in 2018, was reelected to represent the district over his Democratic challenger by a margin of 28 percentage points in 2024.
Congressional district lines may be redrawn before the midterm elections, after the Democratic-controlled General Assembly introduced and passed a constitutional amendment to do so during a special session in early November.
The General Assembly will need to again pass the amendment during the 2026 session, and then the measure will go before voters, who will have the final say in a referendum. It’s unclear what the new 6th Congressional District could look like — official maps for redistricting have not yet been made available.
General Assembly Democrats have said that the goal of the redistricting effort is to reduce the number of Republican-held congressional seats after several Republican-controlled states have redistricted to lessen the number of Democratic-held congressional seats, starting with Texas, followed by Missouri and North Carolina. Democratic-controlled California passed its referendum to do so on Nov. 4.
