Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Bloomberg Whips Out Checkbook for Another Virginia Election Cycle

Monday, September 27, 2021

Bloomberg Whips Out Checkbook for Another Virginia Election Cycle

We recently wondered about our favorite anti-gun billionaire, Mike Bloomberg, and whether he would remain committed to buying the votes of legislators willing to promote his gun-ban agenda.

We didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

The new trend in Virginia seems that the election season doesn’t really kick in until Bloomberg starts pouring in money. CNN recently reported that Bloomberg’s personal gun-ban apparatus, Everytown for Gun Safety, plans to funnel “more than $1.8 million” into Virginia elections this year. This continues the former New York City mayor’s trend of spending his personal fortune in the Old Dominion to buy politicians that will promote his extreme gun control agenda.

In 2017, Bloomberg’s Everytown spent nearly $1.5 million to elect current Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D). With a strong anti-gun advocate like Northam as governor, Bloomberg then turned on the money spigot to flood Virginia with another $2.5 million in 2019 in order to purchase the commonwealth’s legislature.

Within weeks of Bloomberg-funded anti-gun extremists winning full control of Virginia’s legislative process, one of the most extreme gun bans—even more restrictive than the law in place in Bloomberg’s home state of New York—was quickly introduced. Countless other bills designed to erode the rights of Virginia’s law-abiding gun owners quickly followed.

In spite of tens of thousands of law-abiding gun owners and supporters of the Second Amendment showing up in Virginia’s capital to peacefully protest this unprecedented assault on Virginians’ firearm freedoms, Bloomberg’s legislative minions continued to push the radical anti-gun agenda.

While the crown jewel of the gun control agenda—the ban on semi-automatics and standard-capacity magazines—was ultimately defeated, Bloomberg’s bought and paid for legislature did pass a number of anti-gun bills.

Clearly, Bloomberg wants to go much farther with his campaign to destroy the right to keep and bear arms in Virginia.

This year, the bulk of Bloomberg’s money appears to be earmarked for Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, with about $1 million apparently pledged to the campaign thus far. McAuliffe, like Bloomberg, is a wealthy businessman and investor from New York, although his estimated net worth is “merely” $30 million; a far cry from the lofty perch of Bloomberg’s billionaire status.

Also like Bloomberg, McAuliffe has a long history of funneling money into the coffers of anti-gun politicians. With McAuliffe, however, he uses other people’s money. He became prominent in politics as a prolific fundraiser; this includes helping pump $275 million into then-president Bill Clinton’s political accounts.

McAuliffe, of course, has been Virginia’s governor before, serving from 2014-18. In that campaign, Bloomberg’s Everytown put a relatively paltry $20,000 into getting him elected, although Bloomberg did use another mechanism for converting his wealth into political influence; his Independence USA PAC supported McAuliffe to the tune of $1.75 million. Back then, McAuliffe’s anti-gun activities were predominantly limited to vetoing legislation that supported the rights of crime victims and those who are concerned about self-defense, as anti-gun legislators were in the minority.

Then came Bloomberg’s 2019 spending spree.

This year, Bloomberg has increased his Everytown buy-in on McAuliffe by at least 50 times since he held office the first time, and his overall investment for buying Virginia legislators is in the neighborhood of $10 million since 2015. If all of Bloomberg’s purchases pay off at the polls this November, we can expect the two New Yorkers to cash in by completely gutting the Second Amendment in Virginia.

Ironically, the former New Yorker, McAuliffe, once called out the current New Yorker, Bloomberg, and the anti-gun group that relies on his largesse to exist. In 2016, when McAuliffe was compelled to work with pro-Second Amendment legislators in Virginia to fix a mess created by the commonwealth’s Attorney General regarding right to carry reciprocity, Everytown put out a press release saying they “condemn the Governor’s decision.” A later release said McAuliffe was “sullying his legacy,” that he had “betray[ed]” anti-gun activists, and had “abandoned his standing” as a gun control proponent.

McAuliffe, according to CNN, dismissed Everytown’s temper tantrum, and shrugged off the group as “an outside group meddling in state politics.”

At least he got that right.

But these days, Bloomberg is willing to spend whatever it takes to tighten the New Yorker’s grip on the Virginia legislature, as well as whatever it takes to get the ex-New Yorker McAuliffe back in as governor. If this spending spree is successful, we anticipate the past will be forgotten, and McAuliffe will have an open-door policy for Bloomberg and his paid-for anti-gun proxies in the legislature, as they do everything they can to destroy the rights of Virginia’s law-abiding gun owners.

TRENDING NOW
Trump Continues Commitment to Gun Owners

News  

Monday, October 27, 2025

Trump Continues Commitment to Gun Owners

We’ve covered the numerous ways in which President Donald Trump has used his office to defend or advance our rights protected under the Second Amendment. 

CBS Report: Chicago’s Responsible Gun Owners Wrongfully Arrested, Charged

News  

Monday, October 27, 2025

CBS Report: Chicago’s Responsible Gun Owners Wrongfully Arrested, Charged

The Windy City has its fair share of problems, but a lack of violent criminals isn’t one of them, as anyone who takes a moment to look through local crime news source CWB Chicago knows for a ...

NRA-ILA Files Comments on DOJ’s Relief from Disabilities Rulemaking

News  

Monday, October 27, 2025

NRA-ILA Files Comments on DOJ’s Relief from Disabilities Rulemaking

Last Monday, NRA-ILA (ILA) filed comments in response to a proposed rulemaking by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to revive the government’s “relief from disabilities” program for people categorically prohibited from acquiring or possessing firearms. 

Taxpayer-Funded Orgs Bankroll Ad Council “Children” and Firearms Propaganda

News  

Monday, October 27, 2025

Taxpayer-Funded Orgs Bankroll Ad Council “Children” and Firearms Propaganda

The idiot box has been living up to the nickname.

NRA-ILA Files Reply Brief Pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Its Challenge to the NFA’s Restrictions on Short-Barreled Rifles

Thursday, October 23, 2025

NRA-ILA Files Reply Brief Pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Its Challenge to the NFA’s Restrictions on Short-Barreled Rifles

Today, the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) filed a Reply Brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the National Firearms Act of 1934’s restrictions on short-barreled rifles in a ...

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Friday, October 24, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

Major Digital Currency’s Terms of Use Prohibit Firearm and Ammunition Sales

News  

Monday, October 20, 2025

Major Digital Currency’s Terms of Use Prohibit Firearm and Ammunition Sales

So much of the energy surrounding the digital currency space has been aimed at bringing forth a new liberty. 

From Printers to Panic: Everytown Summit on “3D Printed Firearms” Targets Progress

News  

Monday, October 27, 2025

From Printers to Panic: Everytown Summit on “3D Printed Firearms” Targets Progress

Recently, Everytown for Gun Safety hosted a 3D Printed Firearms Summit in New York City with the goal being to “build cross-sector collaboration and chart actionable strategies to stem the tide of 3D-printed firearm (3DPF) related violence.” 

Grassroots Spotlight: Green Top Outdoor Expo

Take Action  

Monday, October 27, 2025

Grassroots Spotlight: Green Top Outdoor Expo

Earlier this month, your Virginia NRA -ILA Grassroots Team had the honor of participating in the annual Green Top Outdoor Expo, hosted by Green Top Sporting Goods in Ashland, Virginia

Urban Crime Spike “the Most Overlooked U.S. Crime Story in Recent Years”

News  

Monday, October 20, 2025

Urban Crime Spike “the Most Overlooked U.S. Crime Story in Recent Years”

It was a standard talking point of the Biden White House that violent crime had dropped by record levels under the Biden-Harris administration, attributed in part to its support of gun control measures.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.