Phil Ammann
Boca Raton health-care executive John “J.B.” Bensmihen said Wednesday he’ll post solid fundraising numbers in his campaign to unseat two-term Democratic U.S Rep. Lois Frankel.
Bensmihen, a self-described moderate Republican, said he raised more than $100,000 in the second quarter of 2015 in his bid for Florida’s 22nd Congressional District, the Democratic-leaning region of Palm Beach and Broward.
Frankel, former mayor of West Palm Beach, was elected to her second term this past November in a close race against Republican Paul Spain.
“I am running for Congress for four reasons; first because the people of the 22nd District have no voice in the U.S. House right now,” Bensmihen says on his website. “If elected I will be a voice of moderation and reason, a voice for the people of this district and, importantly, I will be in the majority where I will be in a position of leadership to get things done.”
Bensmihen is executive director of the Private Care Association and former owner of United Elder Care Services and Boca Home Care Inc. He’s also on the governing board of West Boca Medical Center and a member of the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation.
CD 22 was represented by Tea Party Republican Allen West until he lost re-election after 2012 redistricting. The redrawn district, which includes West Palm Beach, now leans Democratic by a margin of 41 to 30, which leaves a large group of independent voters who could be open to Bensmihen.
Campaign financing reports to the Federal Election Commission are due July 15 for the quarter that ended Tuesday.
