Virginia AG Hopeful Was Outraising His Rival — Then Dominion Energy Tipped the Scale

The Intercept

12 hours ago

Both candidates for Virginia attorney general in Tuesday's Democratic primary have much in common. They've both promised, for instance, to fight against Donald Trump and DOGE, and to protect abortion rights.
When it comes to who is funding their campaigns, though, there's one source of cash that marks a striking difference between the candidates: Dominion Energy, the Fortune 500 utility company that has long thrown around huge sums to shape politics in Virginia.
In the attorney general primary this year, local prosecutor Shannon Taylor has accepted $650,000 in donations from Dominion, while former state delegate Jay Jones has not taken any from the company.
And that cash has made a difference: Jones had a significant fundraising lead this year — until Dominion began sending checks to Taylor.
The spending split shows how Dominion continues to shape Democratic politics in the state, six years after party leaders said they would refuse donations from the controversial electricity monopoly. In response to Dominion's attorney general race donations, 14 current and former Democratic officials aligned with Jones wrote a letter this week calling out Taylor for what they said was a looming conflict of interest.
'The scale of these contributions appears to be unprecedented in Virginia Attorney General races,' the officials said. 'This level of corporate influence over a candidate seeking the state's highest law enforcement position undermines public confidence in the independence and integrity of the office.'
Hitting a theme of her long experience as a prosecutor, Taylor's campaign said in a statement, 'Shannon is the only Democrat who can be trusted to flip this seat and fight back against Donald Trump.'
In a statement, Jones's campaign manager Rachel Rothman took a swipe at Taylor's reliance on Dominion cash. She said, 'Shannon Taylor is clearly aspiring to be Dominion's in-house counsel.'
Nobody in Virginia politics has a pocketbook quite like Dominion. The company is the leading campaign contributor this election cycle, according to the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project. For years, it has showered candidates with what one observer called a 'staggering' amount of cash.
Meanwhile, the company has faced complaints about its business.
Dominion has been accused of overcharging customers by $1.2 billion over a yearslong period, slowing efforts to develop rooftop solar energy, and threatening the climate with a since-canceled natural gas pipeline.
Dominion's political vise grip allowed it to get away with it all, critics said.
In recent years, however, that grip has loosened. Responding to outrage from voters, the Democratic Party announced that it would no longer accept donations from Dominion — though individual candidates were not obliged to follow suit.
Some Democrats have continued to take money from the company, while others have aligned themselves with the Clean Virginia Fund, a political organization created by a wealthy Charlottesville investor named Michael Bills to combat Dominion's influence in state politics.
In 2018, then-attorney general Mark Herring, a Democrat, said he would stop taking money from Dominion. That did not stop the company from donating in 2021 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association, which spent on ads to support Herring when he was fighting a primary battle against Jones. The donation was not made public until after Jones had lost the race.
The intra-party split is playing out again in this year's attorney general race.
Dominion, which partnered with environmental groups on an unsuccessful clean energy bill last year, defended its involvement in state politics in a prepared statement.
'Like most companies, we participate in the political process on behalf of our thousands of employees and millions of customers,' said Aaron Ruby, a company spokesperson. 'They depend on us for reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy. We contribute to candidates from both parties in support of common sense public policy.'
The Virginia attorney general race is one of this year's marquee contests. Because the state has a large contingent of federal workers affected by DOGE cuts and the office's ability to challenge actions by the administration, the race viewed as a bellwether for how Trump's second term is going over with voters.
Dominion has its own reasons for being interested. The attorney general's office also plays an important role in utility regulation in the state. In 2022, Jason Miyares, a Republican and the current attorney general, tangled with Dominion Energy over whether a large offshore wind project did enough to protect ratepayers from potential cost overruns before reaching an agreement.
The massive donations to Taylor have helped her even out Jones's fundraising advantage. Jones has won endorsements from centrist Democrats such as former Virginia governors Ralph Northam and Terry McAuliffe, as well as national figures like Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. Along the way, Jones raised $2.7 million compared to Taylor's $2.1 million. Jones's major contributors include the Clean Virginia Fund, which has given his campaign nearly $579,000, according to disclosures.
Prolific campaign spending by Bills, the Clean Virginia Fund founder, has drawn criticisms of its own from observers who say it is drowning out small-dollar donors.
Earlier this month, Jones also received $1,000 from a Dominion Energy executive, complicating his allies' criticism of Taylor. Jones's campaign said they are refunding the money.
Both candidates have criticized Miyares for not doing enough to fight back against Trump, and both have promised to fight for abortion rights.
Jones has pointed to his experience fighting for consumer rights as a lawyer at the D.C. attorney general's office and his legal fights with the administration of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin over voting rights.
Taylor, the commonwealth attorney for Henrico County, has leaned heavily on her experience as a criminal prosecutor. In a statement responding to the letter from Democratic officials criticizing the Dominion donation, Taylor repeated her allegation that Jones lacks the experience to serve as the state's top law enforcement official.
'Jay Jones has never prosecuted a case and spent less than 10 months in the DC AGs office,' the release said. 'Shannon spent 30 years prosecuting thousands of cases to protect Virginia families and hold fraudsters accountable.'
Taylor also called out a few thousand dollars that Jones took from lobbyists associated with Dominion Energy between 2021 and 2024, and donations from the company itself in 2017 and 2018.
Rothman, Jones's campaign manager, said, 'Virginia needs an Attorney General who fights for Virginians first. That candidate is Jay Jones.'
Democrats are banking on outraged voters angry at Trump to hand them victories in key statewide races on the ballot this year, including governor and lieutenant governor.
Dominion could be the ultimate winner, regardless of whether Democrats are right. The company has also donated $175,000 to the campaign of Miyares, who rallied with Trump ahead of last year's election. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.