Janelle Irwin Taylor
When it comes to fundraising, state Sen. Dana Young continues to outperform her Democratic opponent in the race for the Senate District 18 seat in Tampa.
Young has raised about $2.6 million between her political committee and general campaign fund, $1.6 million more than outgoing House Democratic Leader Janet Cruz.
Young raised $70,000 for her general campaign fund during the latest reporting period covering Sept. 29-Oct. 5. She raised $137,500 in her Friends of Dana Young political committee.
Cruz raised a little over $15,000 for her campaign during the latest reporting period and $32,500 in her political committee, Building Tampa Bay. She’s brought in about $1 million in both funds to date with $369,000 raised in her campaign fund.
The latest contribution reports show a marked difference in fundraising strategies between the two campaigns. Young is getting high-dollar contributions from large corporations and special interest groups, including from the pharmaceutical industry.
Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Sunovion, Biogen and AstraZeneca have all contributed to Young’s campaign.
During the latest campaign reporting period, Young brought in 84 individual contributions averaging $833 each. The maximum contribution to an individual campaign is $1,000.
Cruz brought in 304 individual contributions averaging $50 each. Her contributions flowed in from mostly out-of-state donors. Exactly 75 percent of Cruz’s campaign contributions during the latest reporting period came from individual donors, companies and groups from outside Florida.
That outsized support from out-of-state donors hints at the importance of the Young vs. Cruz matchup on a national scale for Democrats. The race is one of many across the U.S. seen as a way to flip legislative seats.
Spending was fairly quiet for both candidates this reporting period: Young spent just under $16,500. Of that, $13,000 went to Florida Finance Strategies, a Tallahassee-based political consulting group. She paid $2,500 to Bascom Communications, which is running her local campaign.
Cruz spent about $11,000, including $7,400 to Capitol Promotions, a Pennsylvania-based yard sign and campaign promotional item maker. She paid $720 to the Jewish Press Group of Tampa Bay for advertising, $1,278 to NGP Van Inc. for campaign technology including social media and fundraising strategy and $328 to Orbitz, presumedly for campaign-related travel.
The two candidates are in a heated campaign battle. A September poll put Young three points ahead of Cruz, but that’s within the margin of error.
The district has a slight Republican advantage. It went plus-six for Hillary Clinton in 2016, but elected Young with a plurality of the vote in a four-way race.
