Drew Wilson
Tampa Democratic Rep. Sean Shaw followed up his $211,000 March fundraising effort with another six-figure haul in April, bringing his total fundraising for the Cabinet race past the $400,000 mark.
Shaw’s April reports show $131,551 raised between his campaign and political committee, Sean Shaw for Florida. Combined with the $71,275 he raised when he was running for re-election to the Florida House, his 2018 cycle fundraising total is now $414,348.
Most of the April haul came in through Shaw’s campaign account, which took in 145 contributions last month. The majority of those donors checked in at or below the $250 mark, but the campaign did snag 13 checks for $3,000, the maximum contribution for statewide campaigns.
The committee brought in a half-dozen checks – TECO Energy and law firms Swope Rodante and Lytal, Reiter, Smith, Ivey & Fronrath were in a three-way tie for the top spot on the donor list, each chipping in $10,000 for the month.
The two accounts spent a combined $60,350 for the month, including $45,000 contributions from the committee account to the Florida Democratic Party. Barring that, the top outlay was a $4,150 check to MDW Communications for work on the campaign website.
Heading into May, Shaw had more than $275,000 on hand in his campaign account and nearly $40,000 in his committee account for a combined total of $316,205 at the ready.
The first-term lawmaker is running against Ryan Torrens in the Democratic Primary, though after a year in the race he’s only just managed to hit the six-figure mark in total fundraising. He entered May with $4,342 on hand.
Shaw’s total is still far short of the three Republicans running to take over for exiting AG Pam Bondi.
Pensacola Rep. Frank White currently leads the money race overall with more than $2 million on hand, though most of his money came in through candidate contributions. Former circuit court judge Ashley Moody leads in actual fundraising and has $1.75 million on hand, while Jacksonville Rep. Jay Fant has $839,000 banked, including $750,000 in loans.
The primary race is Aug. 28. The general election is Nov. 6.
