Holton raises nearly $79K, setting School Board early fundraising record

According to a mandatory campaign finance disclosure, Anne Holton, who is running for the 6th District seat on the Richmond School Board, has raised $78,710.80 for her campaign so far in this election cycle, putting her on track to run the most expensive campaign in Richmond School Board history.

Jackie McDonnough, her competitor for the seat, has raised $17,486 as of July 23.

Holton received donations of $5,000 from Jan Brandt, the vice chair emeritus of America Online/Time Warner, and Sonjia Smith, a frequent Virginia political donor and philanthropist.

McDonnough’s top donations have come from Carson Leigh Brown, McDonnough’s communication director ($4,375), and Richmond for All, a local advocacy group ($1,256).

According to a review of records by The Richmonder, the most expensive campaign was run by Garrett Sawyer, who served in an interim capacity before Wesley Hedgepeth won the 4th District in the 2024 election.

Sawyer raised $55,762.76 by the end of August that year, and a total of $81,641.42 by the end of 2024.

Jonathan Young, who won the 4th District seat in 2020, raised $30,705 in that campaign. He had raised $74,672.62 in the 2024 cycle before resigning from his seat.

Holton, the former state secretary of education and former first lady, has been serving as the interim School Board representative for the 6th.

She has been vocal about the division’s budget process, frequently posting updates to social media about where things stand. Among the biggest decisions she has had to make was refusing to propose a budget that would include funding for the now closed Richmond Virtual Academy, finding herself in the minority in a 6-2 vote.

She noted at the time that there was no funding available for the school, meaning the cuts were only being postponed, not avoided. In the end, the board was required to participate in an additional two rounds of budget cuts to produce a balanced budget.

Holton has so far received notable endorsements from Victor McKenzie Jr., a member of the Richmond Planning Commission who also interviewed for the seat back in January, and Shonda Harris-Muhammed, the former 6th District Board representative who left the seat last December.

McDonnough, the former director of science education at VCU’s School of Education, has been notably endorsed by City Councilor Kenya Gibson (3rd District) and Del. Charlie Schmidt (D-Richmond).