Lusk outpaces Lee District field in latest fundraising report

June 6, 2019 Politics
Rodney Lusk speaks during a forum last month at the South County Governmental Center.

The latest campaign finance reports for the Lee District Supervisor primary race are in, and they show that Rodney Lusk far outraised his opponents during the most recent filing period.

Lusk, a longtime Fairfax County employee who currently works for the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, raised $75,322 between April 1 and May 30, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. That’s more than his three Democratic primary opponents combined over the same period. Among all candidates running in this year’s Board of Supervisors contests, only Jeff McKay ($260,551 in the chairman’s race) and Maggie Parker ($254,276 in the Hunter Mill race) outraised Lusk during the latest filing period.

Lusk’s biggest donors were the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 26 ($5,000), Fairfax County Professional Firefighters & Paramedics IAFF Local 7068 ($5,000 in two donations), real estate developers ($3,350), commercial real estate workers ($2,700), and realtors ($1,500).

Lusk also had 72 small contributors ($100 or less) who gave a totals of $5,432. Both figures were tops among the four candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in the June 11 primary. No other candidates have filed to run for the Lee District seat, which is opening up for the first time since 2007 after Jeff McKay decided to run for chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

As of May 30, Lusk still had more than $30,000 on hand, which was also much more than the other three candidates.

Larysa Kautz, chief counsel for the non-profit Melwood, was the second-highest fundraiser during the period. Kautz raised $25,273 between April 1 and May 30. For total fundraising during the campaign, Kautz has raised the second-highest amount, behind Lusk.

Kelly Hebron, a college professor and lawyer, raised $13,771 between April 1 and May 30. Hebron was second only to Lusk in small donor donations, raising $3,622 from 62 donors during that period.

James Migliaccio, a communication professional who also serves as Lee District Planning Commissioner, had $6,944 in donations between April 1 and May 30. He had a total of $9,525 still on hand as of May 30, which was second behind Lusk.