Drew Wilson
Freshman U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy has passed the $1 million mark in fundraising for her re-election campaign in Florida’s 7th Congressional District.
Her campaign touted the fundraising milestone, as well as Murphy’s $310,000 effort in the third quarter in a Thursday email, where spokesman Zachary Poe said the Orlando Democrat is gearing up to counter “partisan attacks” hitting her from the right.
“Stephanie Murphy has a strong record of bipartisan cooperation and delivering results for central Florida, which is why she has strong support from Democrats, Republicans, and independents,” he said. “National Republicans have already started launching negative attacks against Stephanie Murphy after only months in office, so we are raising the resources we need to fight back.”
Murphy’s new report has not been processed yet by the Federal Elections Commission, but at the end of the second quarter she had raised a total of $699,000 and had about $519,000 on hand.
Murphy beat out longtime Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica for the seat, 52-48, last year. Florida courts ordered new district lines ahead of the 2016 elections, making the Central Florida seat much friendlier to Democratic candidates.
At least one of the opponents looking to flip the seat back next year will be Winter Park Republican state Rep. Mike Miller, who announced he would leave HD 47 to run for Murphy’s seat over the summer.
His campaign was barely off the ground before the end of the second quarter, and hasn’t touted Q3 numbers yet, but he’s had a number of big-name Republicans show up to help him on the fundraising trail.
