Scott Powers
Democratic state Senate candidate Mike Clelland has begun his onslaught of spending – dropping more than $120,000 on media consulting and advertising – in his quest to win the Aug. 30 primary to run for the Orlando-based District 13 seat.
Clelland’s official campaign fund spent $48,000 in the first 24 days of June, most of it going to the Snyder-Pickerill Media Group of Chicago. Meanwhile, his unofficial political action committee, Common Sense for Central Florida, spent $72,000 during the same time period, with most of it going to Mack-Sumner Communications of Alexandria, Va.
Clelland is a trial lawyer and former firefighter, who also is a former state representative from Longwood. He was able to spend that money because he built an enormous war chest, powered by law firms and firefighter organizations. over the past six months in both accounts, especially compared with his two Democratic opponents, former state Rep. Linda Stewart and former Orange County School Board Member Rick Roach.
Neither Roach’s nor Stewart’s latest campaign finance returns are available yet.
In the latest returns, Clelland added $13,665 to his official campaign. With the spending, that left him with $82,226. In his PAC, he brought in $17,500 in June. With the spending, he’s left with $165,629.
If all that media consulting and advertising helps propel him to the Democratic nomination – and it won’t be easy, because Roach is piling up endorsements and Stewart has been elected three times in the region – he’ll likely need plenty of money for the November general election.
That’s because Republican nominee Dean Asher‘s campaign and political action committee funds have generally done even better than Clelland’s over the past few months. Asher’s latest reports are not yet available.
