A.G. Gancarski
Certainly, this will be a different story in 2018. But in July 2017, fundraising for Northeast Florida State Representatives and Senators was slow.
The two incumbent state Senators on the ballot, Republican Aaron Bean and Democrat Audrey Gibson, each raised under $10,000 in July.
Bean raised $9,500 and spent $1,915 in July, giving him just under $31,500 on hand. Of that $9,500, $4,000 came from Disney subsidiaries.
Gibson raised $6,500 and spent $177 in July, giving her just under $58,000 on hand. The bulk of Gibson’s July haul came from political committees.
State House fundraising likewise was a snoozer for incumbents, most of whom lack even nominal ballot opposition.
House District 11 Republican Cord Byrd raised no money, and entered August with roughly $12,000 on hand. No worries for Byrd, though, who carried the general election last year with 98 percent of the vote against a write-in.
HD 12 Republican Clay Yarborough raised $7,500 in July.
Yarborough has raised nearly $49,000 this cycle, and has just under $41,000 of that on hand, as he prepares for a general election challenge in the deep red district.
Yarborough is slated to face a general election opponent: Tim Yost, a local college instructor running as a Democrat.
Yost has raised $2,215, largely from small-dollar donors, with a few bearing the surname of Yost.
HD 13 Democrat Tracie Davis didn’t raise money in July, and remains with just over $16,000 on hand.
HD 14 Democrat Kim Daniels likewise took the W; the charismatic Democrat, beloved by Tallahassee Republicans, has $100 on hand — a number that will change when Daniels deems it necessary.
HD 15’s only candidate, Republican Wyman Duggan, filed to run in August and has yet to report campaign finance activity.
HD 16 Republican Jason Fischer raised $2,500, with $1,000 of that from the political committee of Mayor Lenny Curry. Fischer has just over $53,000 in hard money. and his own political committee (“Conservative Solutions for Jacksonville”)
HD 17 incumbent Cyndi Stevenson brought in $1,500 in July; the St. Johns County Republican has just over $50,000 on hand.
One notable exception to the above: “Working for Florida’s Families,” the political committee of Sen. Rob Bradley, had a strong month.
The Fleming Island Republican’s committee raised $77,500 in July, boosting the total north of $450,000.
