Peter Schorsch
Gwen Graham raised approximately $170,000 for her political committee, Our Florida, in October. No word yet on how much she raised in hard dollars for campaign, but, if the amount is similar to previous monthly hauls, her final number will probably be in the low six-figures. Between her committee and her campaign, Graham has, on average, raised approximately $300K each month.
Professional fundraisers call such an effort “fair-to-middling.”
Meanwhile, recently declared gubernatorial candidate Philip (one L) Levine announced that his political committee, All About Florida, added another $1 million to its total, which now stands at $5.78 million. Levine’s critics will complain that much of that money is Levine’s own (it’s not, by the way: approximately $3 million of the $5.7 million is raised money) , but all of it’s green and it will spend just like money donated to him and that’s all that matters.
Levine’s ability to write an eight-figure check to finance his campaign is the greatest threat to Graham, at least in the primary. But it remains to be seen how that plays out. For now, however, Graham should feel really good, despite her mediocre fundraising.
As Florida Politics reported last week, a recent survey from St. Pete Polls shows that Graham holds a sizable lead over her Democratic primary opponents.
Graham sits at 31 percent, while Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum stands at 13 percent. Levine is at 6 percent while Orlando-based businessman Chris King is at 5 percent.
No one expects Levine to remain in single digits. And King could catch fire, especially if he keeps garnering positive media attention.
That said, this poll has a lot of good stuff in it for Graham. First, she’s above 30 percent, not the lower number she has been at in previous polls. Second, Gillum is cratering, so much so that Graham is actually beating Gillum among black voters.
But here’s what’s really important: Graham can trust these numbers.
As much as folks like to toss around the term “fake news” to describe political polls, we have reason to trust the numbers coming from St. Pete Polls.
Why? Well, look at their recent work in the St. Petersburg mayoral race. It’s final poll had Rick Kriseman defeating Rick Baker by two points. The final result was Kriseman defeating Baker by three points.
That’s a polling “white balance” that tells us that other recent surveys from St. Pete Polls, in this case its temperature-taking of the Democratic field for governor, are accurate, too.
And with that in mind, Graham should be smiling today. Smiling while she makes calls to raise money, that is.
