The three-way race for the Henrico County commonwealth’s attorney seat is blossoming into a high-stakes, high-dollar fight that now has attracted attention and money from Rep. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader.
Cantor’s congressional campaign office said today that he will formally endorse independent candidate Bill Janis for Henrico’s prosecutor in coming days and campaign reports show Cantor’s election campaign has contributed $10,000 to the Republican delegate.
“The congressman believes that Bill Janis is the best man for commonwealth’s attorney,” said Ray Allen, coordinator for Cantor’s re-election.
Janis said today that he and Cantor will meet with Henrico voters Oct. 20.
Janis announced earlier this month that he is dropping his bid for another House term in the state General Assembly to run as an independent against Republican Matthew Geary, who has lost support from party leadership but is pushing forward with his campaign.
Geary charged today that Cantor’s involvement in the race and the support of other Republican leaders for non-party candidate Janis violates party rules and means that they no longer formally have voting rights in local party matters.
Campaign finance reports filed this week show that Janis’ campaign for his House seat has contributed $20,000 to Janis’ campaign for the commonwealth’s attorney spot.
“It’s the Bill Janis for House committee donating money to the Bill Janis for Commonwealth’s Attorney committee,” Janis said this afternoon.
Geary is calling for an investigation into the legality of the shift.
Janis for commonwealth’s attorney has amassed $102,343 in contributions as of the end of August while Geary has collected $82,153. Geary’s remaining balance was $22,105 at the end of August while Janis’ was $100,343.
The Democratic candidate for the prosecutor’s race, Shannon Taylor, the most recent entrant, reported $856 in contributions for the period with $800 remaining.
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Read more in tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.)
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