In a year with very few major national elections, political eyes across America are turning toward Virginia. Virginia politicians also see an opportunity to build support outside the state. For Democrats, this means looking to the West Coast for help pushing Virginia to the left.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s campaign for governor received a boost last week from the Portland, OR, based SuperPAC Vote Vets. The historically left-wing PAC contributed $500,000 to Spanberger’s campaign and placed a slate of digital advertisements throughout the state.

The half-million dollar contribution is the largest single contribution in VoteVets’ history.

VoteVets was prominently involved in the Congressman Eugene Vindman’s campaign and has sued to block President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from their work auditing Federal departments for waste and fraud.

Spanberger also spent time fundraising in San Francisco with progressive Electing Women Bay Area. “Some women’s political organizations recruit,” says the EWBA’s parent website. “Others train. We fund.”

Invitations to hear Spanberger speak at a February 28 breakfast reception request donations of $1,000-$10,000 to attend but include a note “There are no donation limits in Virginia, so we welcome larger donations.”

“Abigail Spanberger’s campaign is funded by West Coast billionaires – not hard working Virginians,” said presumptive Republican nominee Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, reposting the EWBA invitation.

“If you want Virginia to become California, Spanberger makes sense,” posted Republican Delegate Mark Lawrence Earley.

Republicans have long pointed to California as an example of unrestrained liberal policies. Over half of all Americans regardless of party affiliation have an unfavorable view of California. Party leaders wasted no time tying Spanberger’s out of state cash haul to her advocacy of left-wing causes ranging from electric vehicle mandates to Green New Deal contracts.

“This should be setting off alarm bells for Virginians,” said Rally Virginia. “Virginia Democrats have already tried to force California’s EV mandate and soft-on-crime policies on us. Now their gubernatorial nominee is taking big bucks from donors in far-left San Francisco? Concerning.”

Spanberger has been endorsed by climate activist organizations and publicly endorsed steep increases to the Virginia minimum wage.

“REMINDER: Democrats did this in California. Rent – and everything else – got even more expensive making it even harder for working people to get by,” the Virginia Republican Party replied to Spanberger’s minimum wage endorsement. “Abigail Spanberger wants to bring California’s failed liberal policies to Virginia because she failed Econ 101.”

Spanberger’s shift left politically was not unexpected to political observers. “She spent three terms in Congress building this brand as a moderate figure … but a party primary is very different,” said Mark J. Rozell, George Mason University’s dean of Schar School of Policy and Government.The Washington Post reports Democrat leaders throughout Virginia have been taking steps to nudge Spanberger farther to the left to more represent the direction of the national party.