Alfonso Lopez vs. Dianne Blais

The 49th Delegate district is centered in South Arlington and is one of the most Democratic seats in Virginia.  During the Democratic primary for this seat earlier this year, Alfonso Lopez made a point in every speech to talk about how he wanted to use the seat as a place to fundraise for other Democrats all over Virginia and rebuild the party. Alfonso won that primary and is now unopposed in the general election and is headed to Richmond in January.

Meanwhile on the other side of Northern Virginia, the 40th district is centered in western Fairfax County and is currently held by Tim Hugo.  When Dianne Blais emerged to challenge him this year, she was going to run as a Democrat.  But party leaders discouraged her when they learned that Dianne did not plan to fundraise aggressively- in fact she wanted to make her campaign an example of how to run *without* spending lots of money.  It wouldn't have worked, but it was still a great message to take to voters.  Instead, Dianne was forced to become Dianne Blais the Independent candidate when Democrats said they didn't want other candidates to have to run with someone who wasn't going to fundraise.

So why compare these two candidates now?

Cash On Hand at the end of September
Dianne Blais $3,585
Alfonso Lopez $3,314

Remember when I warned everyone that Alfonso was all talk and no action?  Could there be a better example than having less cash on hand than a candidate whose platform is not aggressively fundraising!?!

Comments

[Not NLS]

Hardly a fair comparison; Lopez doesn't have an general election opponent, per VPAP.

[Not Larry Sabato]

Right, which should make it all the easier for him to fulfill his pledge to raise money to help other candidates!

[Not This Again]

I still love the video. Edith Bunker for Delegate!

[Isaac Smith]

Frankly I hate contributing to candidates without opponents. I get that they need to help others, but I'd rather directly help the Dem.s whom I believe are progressive and let the pro-business, DLC Dem.s, support their brand of candidates.

[TheGreenMiles]

Have the people commenting here ever fundraised? Asking for money for yourself is hard. Asking for money to help other people is easy. Now, the people you're asking might say "Why am I not writing a check to Shawn Mitchell directly?" and that could be what's happening here. But I'm sure no candidate would try to use not having an opponent as an excuse.

[change]

I find it more interesting that he gave most of his money to a consulting group who has garnered almost 5 million for their work for the D’s party and have returned less than 10k in support of the cause…

I am in the wrong business…

[truthteller]

First of all Ben, do some research. You must have missed this from his campaign facebook page raising money for Jack Dobbyn

Please join us for a Reception in support of Jack Dobbyn - Candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates - with Special Guest Representative Gerry Connolly! Sunday, October 23, 5-7PM

Secondly Alfonso held an joint fundraising event to enable Stephanie Clifford to retire her debt. This has freed Stephanie to be an indispensible asset to the Arlington Democratic Committee, with commensurate impact on the Favola race in the 31st....

[NotJohnSMosby]

Between emails and phone calls, I'm getting at least 25 requests a week for donations. House of Delegates, State Senate, Supervisors, school board, Congressional and Kaine for Senate - all are beating the bushes hard. With all of that, there's zero chance I'm going to donate to a guy who is running unopposed, and I suspect most people feel the same way.

[Lenny]

Well, when you are guaranteed to be elected in November, you don't collect checks from small dollar individuals or even medium dollar folks... you raise it from lobbyists. He should have raised 15k in one trip to Richmond.

[NotAlfonsoLopez]

truthteller needs to get some facts straight. Lopez raised what, less than $600 net at the event for Stephanie Clifford. She got half of that. Hardly an amount to write home about. Let's face it: NLS is right. Lopez is all talk and no action.

[Not Not Not NLS]

Yeah, got to give credit where it's due. NLS is right.

[Not Bubby]

That woman is creepy beyond measure. She must have made that video because she lost a bet. I hope so, anyway. For her sake.

[truthteller]

From Alfonso Lopez today:
Wonderful day knocking doors for Barbara Favola in Hume Precinct - attending the Walter Tejada event for Barbara in the afternoon - and serving as a sponsor of the Jack Dobbyn fundraiser this evening!

Ben, admit you are wrong on this one...

[Arl Dem]

Given what we've got to do in Arlington, and how small Arlington is, it would be pretty presumptuous for a first time candidate to think he can raise more funds from the same people who are already being asked to fund other candidates. Look, every county board member and some other Arlington leaders have already hosted fundraisers for Barbara Favola. Alfonso is out campaigning for others and participating in fundraisers. That seems more than adequate to me.

[Ben's no friend of mine]

I can't count the number of times that I've seen Alfoso and Ben (NLS) say hi to each other and be very friendly and cordial with one another. This post just shows that while Ben Tribbet shakes your hand, he uses the other to stab you in the back.

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[BIGfan]

uhhh...how has she not raised more money with this sweet vid?!?

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