Drew Wilson
Sitting Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister brought in $31,445 last month for his campaign to win a full term in the job.
Chronister brought in the money across 123 contributions, including 18 checks for $1,000.
Among the top donors for the month were Tampa Honda, Netterfield’s Popcorn and Lemonade, The Leytham Group, Parks Advocacy Group, Four M Auto Sales & Leasing and Yellow Cab of Tampa.
The Chronister campaign also spent $17,314 in February, with the biggest expenditure weighing in at $3,371 for campaign shirts. The shirts were part of $7,700 in payments to Strategic Image Management, which also provided website hosting, consulting services and office supplies.
Also on the ledger was a $3,210 payment to World of Beer for catering, and $2,152 to EventLive for event management. Campaign staff made up the bulk of the rest of February’s outflow.
In all, Chronister finished the month with nearly $535,000 on hand in his campaign account. Since filing in October, he’s raised a total of $591,188.
Chronister, a Republican, has been with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office since 1992 and was a colonel before the retirement of longtime lawman David Gee in 2017, which landed him the job as interim sheriff. He filed for election a day after he was sworn in.
He is running against Democrat Gary Allen Pruitt and no-party candidate Juan Rivera, neither of whom have made put up much of a fight on the fundraising trail.
Pruitt, a retired Tampa Police Department corporal, raised $0 last month and has shown only a single self-contribution of $200 since filing in November. He has about $25 in his campaign account.
Rivera, a retired CIA officer, added no money in February, but has raised $722 since filing and has $120 on hand.
