Drew Wilson
Republican Rebekah Bydlak added to her fundraising lead last month in the race to take over for termed out Rep. Clay Ingram in House District 1.
Bydlak raised $5,875 for her campaign account and has now brought in $87,437 to date. She also spent $1,400 for the month, leaving her with nearly $74,000 on hand.
The Gonzalez Republican is running against former Rep. Mike Hill in the GOP Primary for the Panhandle House seat. Bydlak has beaten Hill on the fundraising trail every month since he entered the race, and December was no exception.
Bydlak picked up $1,000 checks from the Florida Free Market Committee and the Morette Company, a Pensacola-based construction management firm. Lobby shop GrayRobinson also chipped in $500 in the new report.
Expenditures included a $1,000 payment to Gainesville-based Data Targeting for consulting, with the remaining funds going to pay her campaign treasurer and fundraising fees levied by Anedot.
He raised just $1,250 for the month, and his spending outstripped his income by about $100, leaving him with about $17,250 heading into 2018.
Hill’s sum came from a half dozen individual donors, including Melody Fifer of Pensacola, who topped the December donor roll with a $500 check.
Spending included a $1,000 payment to Mariya Calkins for campaign management, and $250 for campaign staffer Barbara Mayall.
Hill gave up his HD 2 seat in 2016 to run for Florida Senate, but lost to then-Rep. Doug Broxson in the primary. Despite current HD 2 Rep. Frank White opting to run for Attorney General rather than re-election, Hill has held firm in the HD 1 race.
Also running is Democrat Vicki Garrett, who raised $455 in December and has just over $11,000 in her campaign account. She’ll face the winner of the Republican Primary on Election Day, but she stands little chance of success in HD 1, which one of the most heavily Republican districts in the state.
HD 1 covers the western inland portion of Escambia County, including Brent, Bellview, Ensley, Ferry Pass, Gonzalez and Molino. Ingram went virtually unopposed in 2012 and 2016, and in 2014 defeated Democrat Gloria Robertson-Wiggins with nearly 70 percent of the vote.
