A.G. Gancarski
Optimism is the watchword for emails from Florida Senate campaigns on Wednesday, as Todd Wilcox sent out an email touting his own fundraising numbers, the first report he’s had thus far.
Wilcox’s numbers total $758,405.80, with $258,405.80 in contributions and a $500,000 candidate loan.
He claims to have $683,515,16 on hand.
In a statement, Wilcox refers to this first three months as laying the “groundwork” for the campaign going forward.
“I am encouraged by the support we are receiving and couldn’t be more proud of the groundwork we have laid for our campaign in these first few months,” said Wilcox. “As I have traveled around the state, I am hearing over and over that Floridians are tired of sending professional politicians to Washington who simply refuse to stand up for what’s important. I’ve got 26 years of real world experience and real leadership. I have served on the front lines in the Global War on Terror, I’ve built successful businesses, put people to work and I’ve made payroll.”
As well, there is a campaign video attached to the email.
With a soothing pizzicato piano musical bed underneath, Wilcox makes a play to the heartland conservatives, attributing his success in life to being “born in the freest nation” on earth, before weaving a personal narrative.
Born in a “poor neighborhood in South Tampa,” raised by his mother “who had to work two jobs to make ends meet,” he often had to act as “primary caregiver” for his three siblings.
His family was “enrolled in the free lunch program” in the school district, and he remembered “skipping lunch to avoid the humiliation of a handout.”
This taught him what it really was to be poor, he said.
His first job, at the age of 13, involved washing dishes at a cafeteria.
From there, he “buckled down and got an Army ROTC scholarship” to the University of Tampa, which gave him focus going forward, a focus informed by the dichotomous foreign policy of the Reagan era.
Military and CIA service followed, with the bulk of his CIA service happening during the War on Terror.
All the while, he raised his two daughters as a single father.
Wilcox, described by Marc Caputo as “the most interesting man in Florida’s Senate race,” faces an uphill battle for the GOP Senate nomination; however, with a $500,000 personal loan, he clearly is committed.
