Mitch PerryUntil last week, Democrat Eric Lynn had keep an extremely low-profile since announcing this spring that he was aiming to defeat David Jolly in the CD 13 contest in 2016. Sources close to the 36-year-old former Defense Department adviser under President Barack Obama said he was initially intent on establishing his bona fides as a serious candidate by concentrating on fundraising.
That strategy is about to pay dividends in the short-term at least, as advisers to Lynn tell Florida Politics that he will soon announce that he has raised more than $400,000 since declaring his candidacy in early April. (A story originally reported by the Tampa Bay Times).
“It’s a big number and Eric has obviously been working very hard on it,” says Bill Burton, an adviser to the Lynn campaign. “For context, David Jolly raised $221,000 in the first quarter of the year. So it puts Eric in a very good spot.”
Burton acknowledged that Jolly will certainly increase those numbers when he reports his second-quarter fundraising next month. He also observed that when Lynn officially reports his fundraising totals, he will have raised more than any challenger the first quarter of the year “and more than all but four incumbents of either party.”
It’s still unsettled yet on whether Jolly will run for re-election next year. The GOP incumbent is assessing a run for the U.S. Senate next year, and is expected to announce his intentions in July.
Meanwhile, former Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern has announced she will soon be moving to the district to challenge Lynn, and St. Petersburg City Councilwoman Darden Rice will decide with in a few weeks whether she will enter the primary.
In any case, Lynn has a substantial head start, and major Democrats in his camp already, including Kathy Castor, Alex Sink, Rick Kriseman and Pinellas County Commissioners Charlie Justice and Pat Gerard.
