Clean Virginia attacks Shannon Taylor with TV ad
They are going on the airwaves in Northern Virginia.
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Clean Virginia is launching an attack ad against Shannon Taylor
Clean Virginia is launching a six-figure attack ad against Democratic attorney general candidate Shannon Taylor after she accepted $375,000 from Dominion Energy in recent weeks.
“Our power company was caught overcharging Virginians with some of the highest electric bills in the country,” the ad states. “And now, they’re Shannon Taylor’s largest donor.”
Clean Virginia has endorsed Taylor’s primary opponent, Jay Jones, and contributed $400,000 to his campaign. The ad was authorized by Jones.
The new TV ad will air in the Northern Virginia broadcast media market, and digital ads will run statewide through Primary Day on June 17.
“The attorney general’s job is to ensure utility companies aren’t ripping off their captive customers. This ad will inform voters whose side Shannon Taylor is on,” said Clean Virginia Executive Director Brennan Gilmore.
Two former attorneys general who endorsed Taylor’s campaign, Mary Sue Terry and Mark Herring, are coming to her defense.
"Shannon Taylor is a born fighter. As Virginia’s only woman attorney general – I know that these desperate attacks against Shannon are only meant to disguise the fact that Jay Jones has never prosecuted a criminal case,” Terry said in a statement Wednesday.
Herring, who defeated Jones in the 2021 attorney general primary before losing to Jason Miyares in the general election, called the ad an "absurd, unfounded” attack and “an attempt to distract voters from the fact that Shannon is the only candidate who has the experience and proven track record needed for this office.”
The ad:
This is not the first time Clean Virginia has attacked a statewide candidate for accepting money from Dominion.
In 2021, after reversing her previous decision not to accept Dominion’s money, Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Hala Ayala accepted $100,000 from the utility company. Ayala eventually won the nomination but lost in the general election to Winsome Earle-Sears.
Taylor’s campaign pointed out Wednesday that Jones accepted $1,000 from Dominion in 2017 and $500 in 2018. Clean Virginia did not begin giving donations to candidates until 2018, and Jones received his first contribution from the organization in July 2019.
Jones has also received donations from Dominion executives, but Clean Virginia’s questionnaire allows statewide candidates they support to receive up to $5,000 in individual donations from employees and lobbyists of the utility company.
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