BY OLYMPIA MEOLA

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s Opportunity Virginia PAC has bolstered its staff in the run-up to the fall House and Senate elections.

Paul Bennecke, the former political director for the Republican Governors Association, has been brought on to manage the PAC’s involvement in targeted Senate contests.

Bennecke served as the executive director and political director of the Georgia Republican Party before moving over to the RGA, where he spent four years managing its political spending.

All 140 statehouse seats are up for election this fall, after lawmakers redraw their district boundaries.

Republicans are hoping to flip at least three seats to take a majority in the Senate, which is the last bastion of Democratic control in the state. Republicans hold the majority in the House of Delegates and swept the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general contests in 2009.

Phil Cox, executive director of RGA and McDonnell’s gubernatorial race campaign manager, remains at the helm of McDonnell’s political operation, including directing the PAC. D.J. Eckert will focus on the House contests.

McDonnell’s PAC started the new year with $1.7 million on hand, and has brought in at least $85,000 since then in large-sum donations.

The governor is in Florida this week, in part to attend a PAC fundraising luncheon at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.