A.G. Gancarski
The most recent campaign finance numbers for Al Lawson, seeking the Democratic nomination in Congressional District 5, show him with $171,000 on hand.
While $101,000 of that number is from loans, Lawson is showing that he has sufficient resources for a credible campaign in the new CD 5, which sprawls from Jacksonville to Tallahassee with a lot of small towns in between.
Lawson reports, for the period encompassing April, May, and June, $82,712 in individual contributions.
Meanwhile, Congresswoman Corrine Brown is experiencing some difficulty, closing the period with $99,638 cash on hand.
Brown took in $114,299 through the three month period, but $50,000 of that is from a personal loan
Brown’s ability to self-finance without raising eyebrows is complicated by the slew of federal indictments she faces for what feds say was a fraudulent charity operated as a slush fund, which at this point appear headed for a September 6 trial.
Beyond that loan, a mere $11,197 in personal contributions, and $53,000 from political committees, rounds out her haul.
That $53,000 comes from corporate PACs, such as AT&T and Comcast, and the political committees of fellow House Democrats, such as Elijah Cummings and John Lewis.
Also complicating matters for Brown: the fact that she lacks a campaign manager.
The Florida Times-Union reports that she will open up a campaign office in Jacksonville later this month. The real question for Brown, though, goes beyond rallying her reliable base.
Brown is going to need to win new voters west of Duval County, and without a campaign apparatus, it is going to be difficult to overcome the coverage of her One Door for Education charity, which has already gone national and will recur as the trial approaches.
