RESTON, VA — The Republican candidate running to be Virginia's next governor received $105,000 from the company seeking to build a casino in Tysons, according to the latest state financial filings. Building a Remarkable Virginia, one of two political action committees funded by casino developer Comstock Holding Companies, made the donations to Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears' campaign in two installments — $55,000 on June 2 and $50,000 on June 3, according to state financial filings reported by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project. The company's other PAC is Comstock Hospitality Holdings. Earle-Sears will face Democrat Abigail Spanberger and independent candidates Donna Charles and Andrew D. White in the Nov. 4 election. In terms of overall contributions in the governor's race, Spanberger has received more than double the amount of money raised by Earle-Sears, even with the $105,000 donation from Comstock, according to VPAP's latest tally. The governor's race is not the only race where Comstock Holdings is spending money. Since the beginning of May, the company has donated more than $95,000 to the campaigns of two Democratic Party candidates in the Virginia lieutenant governor’s race, according to the latest financial filings. Prior to the June 17 Democratic primary, Patch reported that Comstock’s two political action committees had donated a total of $66,500 to Hashmi Ghazala and $70,000 to Aaron Rouse. New reporting shows that Comstock donated an additional $25,000 to Ghazala five days before the June 17 Democratic primary, which Ghazala won. The Reston developer also made previously unreported in-kind donations of $2,683 and $1,562 to pay for event space, as well as food and beverages, respectively. This means Comstock contributed a total of $95,745 to the Democrat on the Nov. 4 ballot in the lieutenant governor's race. On June 13, Patch reported that the campaign of Democrat Aaron Rouse, whom Ghazala defeated in the primary, had received a total of $70,000 from Comstock. However, Rouse's campaign received an additional $25,000 from the casino backer's PAC on June 6 and $4,780 for event catering, according to the latest campaign financial fillings, as reported by VPAP. This brings the total amount Rouse received from Comstock to $99,780. Ghazala for Virginia - $79,245 Friends of Ghazala Hashmi - $12,000 Hashmi for Senate - $4,500 Aaron Rouse for Virginia - $65,000 Aaron Rouse for Senate - $5,000 In September 2023, Patch first broke the story that Reston-based developer Comstock Holdings wanted to build a casino somewhere along the Silver Line outside the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County. Since then, the builder, its employees and allies have spent more than $1.5 million in campaign contributions and lobbying efforts in support of the casino legislation. Also See: Read all of Patch's reporting on Comstock Companies' plan to build a casino on Metro's Silver Line in Fairfax County at Silver Line Casino.
