A day cashing campaign checks helps Dennis Baxley swamp foe in SD 12 race

With a Democratic challenger now picking up a little momentum in his fundraising, Republican state Sen. Dennis Baxley spent a day last month cashing scores of $1,000 checks from political action committees for his re-election fund in Senate District 12.

Baxley, of Ocala, reported that in March his campaign brought in $47,250. All of it was recorded on March 30, and all of it came in big checks from political action committees, businesses, and lobbyists, including 44 checks for the maximum $1,000 and another six for $500 apiece.

That pushed Baxley’s re-election campaign up to $152,350 collected, with about $112,250 left in the bank going into April.

Meanwhile Democratic challenger Gary McKechnie had his first significant month of fundraising, but it was a modest collection compared with Baxley’s one-day haul. McKechnie, a motorcycle-riding travel writer from Mount Dora, reported raising $13,256 in 102 checks in March. That brought his campaign total to $21,638, with about $20,000 of that in the bank on April 1.

Senate District 12, which includes part of Lake County and a big swath of north-central Florida, was just about the only Central Florida Senate district where candidates had much campaign finance activity in March.

Democrat Bob Doyel was an exception. He reported bringing in $20,882, including a $7,000 check from himself, in his bid to unseat Republican state Sen. Kelli Stargel in Senate District 22, which includes parts of Lake and Polk counties. Doyel entered April having raised $64,881, and with $49,255 in the bank.

Stargel raised just $1,033 in March, but has raised $146,733 overall, and entered April with almost $104,000 left. New in the Democratic field for that seat, former state Rep. Ricardo Rangel of Auburndale reported raising $2,075, and spending $108.

In Senate District 14 on the Space Coast, Democratic challenger Melissa Martin of Cocoa reported raising $6,369, giving her campaign a total of $24,416 in contributions, and about $21,400 left in the bank. Republican state Sen. Dorothy Hukill of Port Orange didn’t raise any money in March. But her campaign already had raised $120,650, and entered April with about $84,000 left in the bank.

Looking ahead to the 2020 elections, Republican state Rep. Jason Brodeur of Sanford didn’t raise any money for his bid to be elected in Senate District 9 in Seminole County, but he has a campaign that already had raised $237,454, and it entered April with $144,000 left in the bank. His Democratic opponent, Fred Ashby, has not really raised any money.

Also looking ahead to the 2020 elections, Democratic state Sens. Randolph Bracy of Orange County’s Senate District 11, Linda Stewart of Orange County’s Senate District 13, and Victor Torres of Orange and Osceola counties’ Senate District 15 didn’t have any campaign finance activity to speak of in March. None of them has more than $25,000 in their re-election accounts at this point, but none has an opponent yet either.