VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - With the debates now over and Democrat Elaine Luria and Republican Jen Kiggans making their final pushes in Virginia's second congressional district, big money is coming in to help them.
Luria has raised nearly $8.8 million, while Kiggans has raised just over $2.5 million.
"This is a close race, right?" said Dr. Ben Melusky, a political science professor at Old Dominion University. "It's kind of a flip of a coin."
Melusky said generally, nationwide, Democrats are outraising Republicans 2 to 1, but in the second district, it's higher.
"In terms of the second district, Luria's race, because of how pivotal it is - it's a district that's changed fundamentally from redistricting to what both parts need to essentially take control or maintain control of the House, it's attracted a lot of attention" said Melusky.
According to the group Open Secrets, which tracks money in politics, Luria's top donors are coming from out of state, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Pro-Israel America PAC.
Kiggans' top donors are local, including the Franklin Johnston Group and Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group.
Does the money advantage help Luria?
"Is money going to make the difference here? I'm not really sure because it's such an interesting election between effectively two well-known candidates," said Melusky.
The campaigns are spending some of the money on ads, but Luria is spending a lot more than Kiggans. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, Luria's campaign has spent more than $4 million on ads, and then outside groups have spent an additional $3 million.
The Kiggans campaign has spent less than $800,000 on ads with outside groups spending about $5 million on their own ads.
"It's really going to come down to, because the race is split and there's that percentage that are still undecided, it's going to come down to turnout," said Melusky.
WATCH: Rep. Luria, Sen. Kiggans debate gas prices, economy, abortion, 2020 election
