Drew Wilson
Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist added more than $188,000 to his campaign account between early August and the end of September, bringing his total fundraising past the $3.25 million mark.
Crist, who represents Florida’s 13th Congressional District, brought $114,000 of that cash via individual donors, including $104,000 contribs exceeding the threshold requiring donor names to be disclosed. Two dozen of those donors chipped in $2,700 apiece, the maximum allowable individual contribution to a congressional campaign.
The balance of the new receipts came in from PACs, with the National Association of Realtors Political Action Committee leading the way with a $5,000 check. Other household names on his list were AFLAC, AT&T, Merck, UnitedHealth Group, Wells Fargo and UPS.
Crist’s campaign account also spent about $80,000 during the reporting period, including $27,900 in polling topping the ledger and a plurality of those funds heading to payroll taxes and salaries for paid campaign staffers.
The former Governor, currently in his first term representing CD 13, finished the reporting period with more than $2.3 million banked and about $169,000 in campaign debt.
Crist faces Republican George Buck, a retired academic and firefighter, in his campaign for a second term in CD 13, which covers parts of St. Pete, Seminole, and mid-Pinellas. Buck is overmatched in the purple district — as of Sept. 30, he had raised just $27,000 for his campaign, including $8,500 in loans and candidate contributions. He has less than $5,000 banked and his campaign is burdened with $13,385.
After CD 13’s prior congressman, David Jolly, announced in March that he would not run to take back his old seat, Crist went from having solid re-election odds to be an overwhelming favorite.
Both the Cook Political Report and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball list CD 13 as a Democratic lock. Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight estimates Crist has a 99.9 percent chance of winning re-election.
The veteran politician’s bankroll was large enough at the end of Q2 that he was able to toss $200,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the fundraising arm supporting the national Democratic Party’s goal of flipping the U.S. House.
Election Day is Nov. 6.
