PEKARSKY, STELLA Challenger

· VA-11 (House)

1.1

Influence Score · 2026

Lightly backed

Non-incumbent — only contributions, independent expenditures, and dark-money exposure are scored. Lobbying, vote alignment, bundle timing, and trade direction require committee assignments and roll-call records, neither of which exist for a non-sitting candidate. Maximum reachable score is about 23, on a challenger-only scale — incumbents are scored 0–100 across all twelve axes, so the two are not directly comparable. See methodology.

Score components

Axis	Raw	Normalized (pts)	Coverage
Direct contributions	$81K	0.31	2026 cycle, principal committee
Outside spending — direct support	$323K	—	PACs that directly supported this candidate
Outside spending — indirect (OPPOSE against opponents)	$2K	—	OPPOSE spending against opponents in the same race, attributed proportionally
Outside spending — OPPOSE against this candidate	$26K	—	PACs that spent to defeat this candidate (not scored on this axis)
Total outside spending in favor	$325K	0.76	direct + indirect — drives the outside-spending axis
Lobbying exposure	—	—	Requires committee assignment
Vote alignment	—	—	Requires voting record
Contribution timing — money arriving near key votes	—	—	Requires recorded-vote calendar
Dark-money exposure	0.0000	0.00	Disclosed-vs-dark outside spending share
Personal trade direction	—	—	Requires STOCK Act filings

Race matchup VA-11

Candidate	Party	Status	Direct $	Outside $	Score	Tier
WALKINSHAW, JAMES	DEM	Inc.	$284K	$3.74M	24.9	Least exposed
ROMA, AMY	DEM	Chal.	$512K	$98K	2.4	Lightly backed
PEKARSKY, STELLA	DEM	Chal.	$81K	$325K	1.1	Lightly backed
CONNOLLY, GERALD EDWARD	DEM	Inc.	$0	$0	0.0	Not scored

Challenger and open-seat scores reflect contributions, outside spending, and dark-money exposure only — a maximum of about 23. They are not directly comparable to incumbent scores, which run 0–100 across all twelve axes. Compare the dollar columns (Direct $, Outside $) for a like-for-like view.