Scott Powers
Republican nominee Dean Asher continues to raise campaign money at a pace Democratic nominee Linda Stewart can’t even dream of in their contest for Florida Senate District 13, bringing in almost $56,000 in the last two weeks of September.
That’s more money than Stewart has raised in the nine months since she began her campaign. Yet Stewart, whose most recent campaign finance numbers still have not been posted with the Florida Division of Elections, soundly defeated a far-better-financed primary opponent in August and has maintained she runs effective campaigns without money.
Money’s not a problem for Asher. His latest contributions, $38,225 to his official campaign account and $17,500 to his independent political committee “Allegiant Friends For Florida,” means he’s raised $590,000 overall and had more than $152,000 left in his official account and more than $163,000 in his PAC to spend in the final month of the campaign before the Nov. 8 election.
Senate District 13 covers north central and northeast Orange County, an area Stewart has represented in the past as both a state representative and an Orange County commissioner. Asher, a Realtor, is making his first political foray, seeking to replace term-limited Senate President Andy Gardiner in a district that has been redrawn to give it a Democratic advantage in registered voters.
Asher’s latest contributions include $7,500 from the Florida Manufactured Housing Association, $5,000 from the MHK engineering firm and 26 $1,000 checks from various political action committees and businesses ranging from the National Federation of Independent Businesses-Florida to Jacksonville Greyhound Racing.
