Drew Wilson
Republican Kurt Jetta announced Wednesday that he raised more than $88,000 in the fourth quarter 2017 and chipped in another $250,000 of his own money for his campaign to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel in Florida’s 21st Congressional District.
The fourth-quarter performance puts Jetta, so far Frankel’s only challenger, with $338,182 raised to date. Jetta did not say how much his campaign spent last quarter, though he pointed out out that Frankel’s GOP challenger in 2016, Paul Spain, raised a total of $26,000 that cycle.
Frankel defeated Spain 62-35 on Election Day.
Neither Jetta, nor Frankel’s end-of-year reports are viewable via the Federal Elections Commission website, though the incumbent has a substantial money lead based on her third quarter numbers.
Through the end of September, Frankel had raised $463,220 and spent $293,312 in the current election cycle. Her campaign also carried over $812,067 in unspent funds from her 2016 re-election bid, putting her with $981,976 cash on hand on Sept. 30.
Frankel received $237,737 of her 2018 cash from individual donors, and another $191,029 from political committees, the latter of which was slammed by Jetta in his fundraising announcement.
“By taking tens of thousands of dollars from Big Sugar, corporate lobbyists, the big banks that stole tens of millions from taxpayers, and trial lawyers; career politician Lois Frankel shows that she’s more at home in the swamp of Washington, D.C. than Palm Beach County. I’m deeply grateful for the support of the Palm Beach community and to the outpouring of local support for my efforts to give Palm Beach a real voice in Washington, D.C.” he said.
CD 21 covers part of coastal Palm Beach County, including Lake Worth, Manalapan, Boynton Beach and Delray Beach.
The district carries a massive advantage for Democrats, who make up 46 percent of the electorate. Third party and no party affiliated voters make narrowly edge out registered Republicans in the district, with each making up about 27 percent of the electorate.
In 2016, Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton carried the district over President Donald Trump 59-39.
