Scott Powers
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carlos Beruff spent more than $3.7 million on advertising, most of it on TV commercials, through the end of the last quarter, and most of that money came out of his own pocket.
The wealthy Bradenton homebuilder finds himself, nonetheless, as a far-distant challenger to U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who made a last-moment decision at the end of June to seek re-election, chasing away all the other Republican candidates and making Beruff’s spending spree appear folly.
According to detailed campaign finance reports finally posted recently by the Federal Election Commission, Beruff poured $3.737 million into TV, radio and other advertising through his Virginia-based advertising firm, OnMessage Inc. That does not appear to include Beruff’s latest blitz of commercials, which included a statewide buy last week for a TV ad criticizing Rubio for not supporting Donald Trump‘s agenda, and another that begins today comparing Rubio with former governor and Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist.
Meanwhile Beruff is trailing Rubio by more than 30 points in recent polls.
The FEC numbers show Beruff’s campaign raised just $429,911 in its first five months, through June 30, while he lent his campaign $4.4 million. With other expenses, including a top-notch staff of campaign professionals, Beruff finished the second-quarter 2016 reporting period with $125,209 cash-in-hand, including his own loans.
