Mitch Perry
St. Petersburg House District 70 Democrat Wengay Newton now has two opponents going after him as he attempts to win reelection this summer, but at least at this early junction, he’s not being challenged seriously when it comes to fundraising.
Newton raised $1,000 in December, and has now raised $17,370 overall for the seat with a little over $15,000 of that money on hand.
Vito Sheeley, a former congressional aide to both Kathy Castor and Charlie Crist, raised just $200 last month, and has brought in $4,922 since announcing his candidacy over the summer. He had about $2,000 in the bank at the start of 2018.
Sheeley was endorsed earlier this week by a number of high profile St. Petersburg Democrats, indicating that Newton could be vulnerable in the August 28 Democratic Primary, but if so, it has yet to translate into campaign dollars.
St. Petersburg attorney and civic activist Keisha Bell announced last week that she would soon officially enter the HD 70 Democratic race, but hasn’t done so yet.
Sheely and Bell, if she makes it official, will have a chance to catch up to Newton over the next several weeks as lawmakers are not allowed to raise money while the Legislature is in session. That means Newton will post a goose egg in February and depending on how well his pre-Session fundraiser went in St. Petersburg, he may even do a bit of a backslide in January.
Newton put out the call to his supporters in the fundraising invite, asking them to “consider supporting the campaign early” due to the primary threat.
HD 70 is a Democratic stronghold and the winner of the 2018 race will certainly come out of the Democratic Primary. The minority access seat covers parts of Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota counties. About 45 percent of the population is black, and 15 percent is Hispanic.
Newton won his first term last year, when he replaced now-Sen. Darryl Rouson in the district. In that race, he defeated his Republican opponent, Cori Fournier, with 76 percent of the vote on Election Day.
