Drew Wilson
September campaign finance numbers show Republican state Sen. Denise Grimsley continuing to outpace her competition in the race to take over for Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam in 2018.
Grimsley added $51,869 to her campaign account last month, and tacked on another $27,500 through her committee, Saving Florida’s Heartland.
The Sebring Republican has now passed the $1.8 million mark in total fundraising – $690,000 through the campaign and $1.1 million through the committee – and she has about $872,000 of that money on hand.
Spending clocked in at $34,092 for the campaign, leaving it with around $433,000 available, while her committee spent nearly all it brought in and finished out the month with about $439,000 in the bank.
Topping the donor roll last month was Ft. Lauderdale-based MCNA Health Care Holdings, which chipped in $25,000 to the committee. Johnson & Johnson gave the other $2,500 to Saving Florida’s Heartland, while another 94 contributions came in through the campaign.
Five of those campaign checks were for $3,000, the maximum campaign contribution for governor and Cabinet seats.
The expense reports for last month include $14,000 paid to Tallahassee-based Empire Strategies, which took home $7,000 from each account for management consulting. Florida Finance Strategies, also based in the capital, picked up $7,500 for consulting work, followed by Ryan Smith, who banked $5,821 for data services, printing, postage and shipping costs.
The District 26 senator is still eligible for another term, but decided to forego a 2018 re-election bid and run for the Cabinet seat instead. Republican Rep. Ben Albritton is the so far the only filer and the odds-on favorite to take over Grimsley’s Senate seat.
Though she couldn’t fathom running for Agriculture Commissioner a year ago, Grimsley’s solid fundraising has positioned her well among her competition for the seat, which includes Rep. Matt Caldwell, former Rep. Baxter Troutman and Paul Paulson in the Republican Primary, as well as Democrat David Walker.
With $2.5 million in his campaign account, Troutman is still in first place when it comes to cash on hand. He’s raised $34,590 for his bid, including $8,950 in September. He has another $51,000 on hand in his committee, iGrow PC, which showed no contributions last month.
Caldwell, who is terms out in HD 79 in 2018, comes in third with total fundraising measuring in at $1.25 million through his campaign and committee, Friends of Matt Caldwell. September saw the accounts take in $10,275 and $5,000, respectively.
Paulson, an Orlando businessman and former lawyer, has also seeded his campaign with plenty of his own cash – nearly $393,000 to date – but brought in the least of the GOP candidates last month with $123.
He is also in last place among the four Republican candidates in both total fundraising and cash on hand. Through September he had raised $652,000 total and has $436,000 in the bank, loans included.
Walker, who filed in mid-August, raised $750 last month. He has about $5,000 on hand after factoring in the $9,500 he put into his campaign in August.
