Mitch PerryFundraising totals for the first 24 days of June were posted at the end of last week, and the numbers released should give Chris Sprowls nothing to worry about.
Sprowls is the GOP incumbent running for re-election to his House District 67 seat, which encompasses Palm Harbor, Dunedin and Tarpon Springs. A 32-year-old assistant prosecutor in Pasco/Pinellas counties, he beat former state Rep. Carl Zimmerman in 2014.
And great things are expected of him, since he’s already been selected to be House Speaker by his colleagues in 2021.
Sprowls has drawn a little-known Democrat — Dunedin’s Bernie Fensterwald — to oppose him in this year’s race.
Fensterwald created a buzz in Florida political circles recently when he listed that he’s worth nearly $20 million on his financial disclosure forms. The worry for Sprowls and Republicans is if he starts spending some of that considerable largesse in this race, they could be in trouble.
That hasn’t happened yet.
To date, Fensterwald has loaned his campaign all of $5,000 since entering the race. Sprowls, meanwhile, has over $140,000 cash on hand in his regular campaign account, and over $361,000 in his super PAC, “Floridians for Economic Freedom.”
Fensterwald says he’s only now beginning to dig into his own checking account to spend on his campaign, and with over four months to go before the general election, he still has plenty of time to make a move on Sprowls.
In a statement issued last month, Fensterwald said he wasn’t worried about “raking in cash” to support his own political ambition, which seemed to be a dig at Sprowls.
“I am running for state representative because I vow to never be beholden to anyone but my constituents,” he said. “I will take on the real issues affecting our community by fighting to protect our environment by banning fracking and finding meaningful solutions to climate change; increasing funding to ensure that our children have the resources they need to succeed in their neighborhood public schools; and to protect consumers from outrageous rate hikes on homeowners’ and wind insurance policies. It is time to clean up Tallahassee, and by working together, we will.”
