As the political primary season enters its final weeks, it is often that candidates receive support from political action committees (PACs) in order to get that push needed to either win new seats or retain current ones. This is the vision for Commonwealth Forward, a PAC whose goal is to, according to its website, “supports candidates for the Virginia General Assembly who stand up to corporate influence and fight for racial, environmental, and economic justice.”

“Commonwealth Forward will work to level the playing field, put people ahead of corporations, and give a fighting chance to candidates who have been systemically marginalized or excluded from the democratic process,” said Kiera Hall, Commonwealth Forward’s executive director told the Virginia Scope recently.

Currently, they are supporting candidates that they believe are best supporting these efforts on the state and local levels. The candidates they have endorsed so far within Prince William County are Elizabeth Guzman (D-31) and Pamela Montgomery (D-2). Montgomery is challenging incumbent Candi King, who won the seat in a special election to replace Jennifer Carroll Foy in January. King has been endorsed by the PW Perspective for her advocacy in education and equality legislation.

The PAC will also seek to include candidates who are running outside of the traditional two-party system, which has been known to exclude candidates based on arcane rules of the past. They will provide training, financial support and assistance with voting to those candidates.

For more information on Commonwealth Forward, visit their website.