Scott Powers
Former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings raised more than $210,000 in the first quarter of 2016 for her congressional race in Orlando-based Congressional District 10, her campaign announced Friday.
The campaign did not state how much cash it had on-hand at the end of the quarter, but Demings, a Democrat, ended 2015 with more than $266,000 in the bank, after having raised $321,000 in the last five months.
While those are impressive numbers, the Democratic race in CD 10 has attracted millionaire businessman Bob Poe, a former Florida Democratic Party chairman, who lent his own campaign $1.2 million to start it off, and his campaign finished the quarter with $1.25 million in-hand.
Demings campaign stated that her contributions were “most commonly” $25. This quarter she received donations from 1,063 individuals.
“The enthusiasm and momentum for my candidacy continues to grow with each day that I am out engaging the community,” Demings stated in a press release issued by her campaign. “I am excited to continue fighting on behalf of Central Floridians, and I am confident that I will continue to have the resources to stay ahead and win the Democratic primary on August 30.”
There is a third major player in the Democratic field, state Sen. Geraldine Thompson of Orlando, and she has not released her first-quarter campaign tally yet. Nor has Orlando attorney Fatima Rita Fahmy.
Demings also has been stacking up endorsements, including one today from the New Democratic Coalition caucus in Congress. In addition, her campaign noted that the only publicly released poll to date, done by Public Policy Polling in January, had her 20 points ahead of Thompson, with Poe a distant third.
