Early start: Northeast Florida 2020 fundraising begins
Sen. Travis Hutson, R-St. Augustine, hugs Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, on the Senate floor after Bradley's Workers’ Compensation Insurance bill passed Friday, May 5, 2017 at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (Photo by Phil Sears)

Legislature 11 ps 050517

The political cycle never truly ends and no sooner had the 2018 elections wrapped before Northeast Florida Republican candidates and committees began raking in 2020 funds.

The numbers aren’t eyepopping, but with power increasingly concentrating in the GOP-dominant region, they are worth watching.

Working for Florida’s Families, the political committee of budget chair Sen. Rob Bradley, saw $35,000 in November post-election receipts from three principals.

Correct Care Solutions, a Tennessee-based company contracted by the state to provide in-patient mental health services, ponied up $10,000. Calder Race Course, the South Florida gambling concern whose President is on Governor-elect Ron DeSantis‘ economic advisory committee, also gave $10,000.

At the $15,000 level: George Hackney, better known as a principal cultivator for medical cannabis magnate Trulieve.

Bradley has been a consistent ally of the medical cannabis industry in Florida under the current vertical integration model, and has advocated (like many Republicans) for the rescheduling of cannabis on the federal level.

Bradley’s committee wasn’t the only one taking checks early.

State Rep. Paul Renner, poised to be Speaker beginning in 2022, also banked via his Florida Foundation for Liberty committee.

Renner represents Palm Coast, but much of his base is in Jacksonville, as reflected by $15,000 in checks from Tom Petway and Florida Blue, two pillars of the Duval establishment.

Most campaign accounts remained fallow for 2020. One exception: Sen. Travis Hutson, the St. Johns County mainstay who is vying for leadership of his caucus in 2022.

Hutson brought in $4,000 from contributors largely in his district. His two political committees, First Coast Business Foundation and Sunshine State Conservatives, raised no money in November.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski



#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories