A.G. Gancarski
Some Northeast Florida state House candidates and incumbents posted stronger fundraising than others in November. Below, the tally in each district.
The highlights: strong months for Republican incumbents Clay Yarborough, Jason Fischer and Cyndi Stevenson.
Meanwhile, in the most interesting race in the region, Democrat Tracye Polson continues to keep pace with Republican Wyman Duggan in House District 15.
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In House District 11, incumbent Republican Rep. Cord Byrd added $4,450 of new November money to his campaign account.
This pushed his total raised to nearly $60,000, against just $2,275 spent this cycle — a machine without churn.
Among the donors: Conservatives for Principled Leadership, a committee affiliated with future House Speaker Paul Renner; Walmart; and Dosal Tobacco Corporation.
Byrd faces no electoral challenges at the moment; in 2016, he beat a write-in, amassing 98 percent of the vote.
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House District 12 sees action on both sides of the partisan divide, with Republican Rep. Clay Yarborough gearing up for a general election battle with Democratic candidate Tim Yost.
Yarborough is winning the money race in the deep-red district. He brought in $24,750 to his campaign account, and $5,000 to his political committee in November.
The campaign account has almost $95,000 now; the committee account has nearly $10,000.
Meanwhile, Yost brought in $165 in November, and has $2,129 on hand.
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HD 13 Democratic incumbent Tracie Davis won’t face an electoral challenge in the primary or the general election, and because of that, even a slow month of fundraising doesn’t occasion alarm.
Davis brought in $525 in November, giving her $28,715 raised and on hand — as she has yet to spend any money.
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HD 14 Democratic incumbent Kim Daniels ended October with less than $600 on hand. She’s better positioned after November receipts.
The evangelist/representative raked in $3,000, with donations from ABC Liquors and TECO Energy standing out.
Daniels also had negative expenditures — always a good place to be for the budget conscious — as a $1,500 spend on a multimedia consultant was refunded in November.
Daniels has just over $5,000 on hand.
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HD 15 — much like HD 12 — is a race that will reach its conclusion in November, as there are both Republicans and Democrats vying to fill the shoes of Jay Fant, who is part of the battle royale for Attorney General.
Republican Wyman Duggan had a $8,950 haul, which brought him to just over $82,000 on hand.
Democrat Tracye Polson raised $8,929 in November in hard money, but spent over $13,000 — $10,700 on consulting and political research.
She has roughly $50,000 in her campaign account, and an additional $13,000 plus in her committee account — giving her over $63,000 to work with.
The question for Polson: will the early frontloading of expenditure on consultants be paid for with continued donor interest, or will she have to go out of pocket to keep up with Duggan, a favorite of sectors of the GOP donor class?
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HD 16 looks like it reached its conclusion already. As we reported last week, Republican Rep. Jason Fischer added $25,000 last month to push his campaign past $100,000 mark in total fundraising.
Fischer, currently in his first term, raised $24,850 and spent $7,648 during November, bringing his to-date total to $113,902 raised with $80,217 cash on hand.
Fischer’s committee, Conservative Solutions for Jacksonville, banked $8,000 raised and spent.
At month’s end the committee had $37,386 on hand, giving Fischer a combined total of $117,603 between his two accounts.
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HD 17 incumbent Republican Cyndi Stevenson had her strongest month of fundraising since filing for re-election.
November brought $22,505 of new money to Stevenson’s account via 82 contributions, giving the St. Johns County Republican $74,954 on hand.
Stevenson, an incumbent in a safe Republican seat, won’t face real competition in 2018.
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HD 18 incumbent Republican Travis Cummings brought in $16,500 in November, pushing him to $106,250 raised.
Among the donors to the Orange Park Republican: Walmart, Walgreen’s, Visa, and the Florida Psychological Association.
Cummings, who doesn’t even have nominal ballot opposition, spent over $4,400 in November. Expect some new snapshots of the state Rep; he is spending over $1,000 on photography services.
For that price, they are contractually bound to get his good side.
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HD 19 Republican incumbent Bobby Payne is headed for a general election showdown with a Libertarian candidate, and — as with every other incumbent — fundraising continues apace.
November saw $4,450 of new money hit Payne’s account, pushing him near $60,000 raised, and over $57,500 cash on hand.
Payne’s Libertarian opponent, Ryan Ramsey, has yet to raise money in four months as an active candidate.
