A.G. Gancarski
September’s Hurricane Irma soaked Northeast Florida — and put a damper on state House race fundraising as well.
Though the usual caveats apply here (mostly incumbents in safely-drawn seats), there wasn’t a lot of action in September fundraising.
The exception: a big-money race in House District 15, where Republican Wyman Duggan brought in $10,650, and Democrat Tracye Polson cleared $51,000.
Expect things to pick up outside of HD 15. this month, but below is the current lay of the land (spoiler: it looks much like last month).
House District 11 Republican Rep. Cord Byrd raised $400 in September, against $2,549 spent, bringing his total cash on hand to just under $16,000. Byrd faces neither primary nor general election opposition.
Jacksonville Republican state Rep. Clay Yarborough continued his consistent fundraising in his HD 12 re-election bid in September. The $7,500 he brought in last month pushed Yarborough up to $63,675 raised — with almost $53,000 of that on hand. His political committee has another $6,000 in the bank.
Tim Yost, a Democrat running against Yarborough in the heavily Republican district, has $1,700 on hand.
HD 13 Democratic incumbent Tracie Davis had yet to file her campaign finance reports for September as of Tuesday morning.
Davis’ fellow Democrat, Kim Daniels, raised $1,000 for her HD 14 re-election bid — giving her $2,100 on hand.
House District 15 sees a competitive race to replace Jay Fant, who is running for Attorney General. Republican hopeful Wyman Duggan raised $10,650 in September while spending $4,770; he has roughly $60,000 on hand after two months in the race.
Meanwhile … lots of under-capitalized Democrats run for office in Northeast Florida. And then there’s House District 15 Democrat Tracye Polson.
The first-time Jacksonville candidate stormed out to a huge first month in the race, raising $51,099 in September, with over $47,000 of that cash on hand, according to a press release from her campaign Monday.
In HD 16, $4,000 of new September money brought Rep. Jason Fischer over $55,000 cash on hand in his campaign account. Fischer’s campaign committee has an additional $27,000. Fischer faces no ballot opposition.
In House District 17, St. Johns County Republican Cyndi Stevenson is running unopposed; in September, she raised $3,603 and spent $1,052; all told, she has just over $44,000 on hand.
House District 18’s incumbent Republican, Travis Cummings, added $2,500 to his coffers in September; the Clay County Republican has roughly $52,000 on hand.
HD 19’s incumbent Republican, Palatka’s Bobby Payne, raised $2,500 in September, pushing him over $28,000 on hand. Primary opponent Boyce Royal had $500 on hand as of the end of August — September tallies were not filed at press time. The same held true for Libertarian hopeful Ryan Ramsey.
