Peter Schorsch
Aakash Patel kept his foot on the pedal last month, tacking on nearly $25,000 for his Hillsborough County Commission campaign.
“I am extremely humbled by the outpouring of support and I am very excited about moving forward as our outreach to donors continues to bring diverse participation from our community,” Patel said.
“It is an honor to meet so many interested, caring, and concerned citizens across District 1. Our #Patel2018 campaign team is reaching out to voters daily, consistently picking up new supporters.”
The new numbers bring Patel’s total fundraising to $378,751, including $288,601 for his campaign account and $90,150 for his political committee, Elevate Tampa.
The bulk of the February money, $19,886, came in through the campaign, which received donations from 60 contributors last month. February spending came in at $8,773, leaving the account with $157,222 on hand heading into March.
Elevate Tampa brought in an even $5,000, including a $500 check from Jeff Vinik’s Strategic Property Partners. The committee didn’t burn any money last month and has more than $90,000 on hand.
The first-time candidate is far ahead of his competition in the District 1 race, which includes fellow Republican Todd Marks and Tampa Democratic Rep. Janet Cruz, neither of whom have posted their February reports.
Through the end of January, Cruz had about $61,000 on hand in her campaign account while Marks had $49,275.
The trio are running for the District 1 seat being vacated prematurely by Commissioner Sandy Murman.
Murman intends to leave the seat she won re-election to in 2016 so she can run in the countywide District 7 in 2018. Since Murman’s decision is not official yet, the Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections office lists Patel, Cruz and Marks as running in the 2020 cycle.
