PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — When Sen. Tim Kaine, (D-Va.) and Republican challenger Hung Cao meet to debate Wednesday, they won’t just be looking to gain votes, they’ll be looking to gain cash.

While it is hard to paint a complete picture of the campaign’s financial situation, because funds for federal campaign reporting currently only goes back until the end of June, it’s clear which candidate has the cash advantage.

Kaine is currently on-air with TV ads more than a month until Election Day. Cao is not.

Neither currently has party political action committee support either, according to Brendan Glavin, deputy research director for OpenSecrets. At this point in the race, that is telling.

“Kaine’s significantly outraising Hung Cao so he can get out there,” Glavin said. “He can run ads, he can be out there on TV. Make sure people don’t forget about this race. Don’t forget [that] he is there. And so, it’s harder for a guy who doesn’t have the same resources.”

A new survey from Emerson College/The Hill and WAVY-TV 10/WVBT FOX 43 was conducted from Sept. 22-24 and polled 860 likely voters in the Commonwealth.

The 10-point gap (now 51% to 41%) between Kaine and Cao is the same as it was in a previous Emerson poll from back in July before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

“He’s not getting help from the party or party-affiliated groups at the national level because he’s generally trailing,” Glavin said. “You know, the polls vary but maybe around 10 points down in the polls.

National leaders are looking at other races such as ones in Montana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio, Glavin said, but a positive debate performance could also change that.

“So it’s certainly possible that day, you know, two scenarios where they feel like, if things are looking more competitive, then they can use a super PAC,” Glavin said. “On the Senate side, it would be the Senate Leadership Fund. They could drop in at the last minute and spend a lot of money to try and help them out. Alternately, if they get to a point where they’re feeling good about other races and they have those resources available, they may say, ‘Oh, now we’ve freed up money to use in this race.'”

The Senate Debate at Norfolk State is Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. You can watch it live on WAVY TV and streaming on WAVY.com.