Jacob Ogles
Sanibel City Councilman Jason Maughan has brought on Axiom Strategies to run his state House campaign.
The hire marks a bit of a coup for Maughan in the rapidly competitive District 76 contest: “It says a lot about how important this race is for the area,” he said.
Political consultant Jeff Roe founded Axiom in 1994 and has since played a role in a number of major statewide contests.
Most important in the Sunshine State, Roe through his polling venture Remington Research Group consulted now-Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Axiom in the past year has grown its presence in the state of Florida through recent. The company just tapped Brock Mikosky to lead its Tampa offices and Evan Kozlow to lead Florida operations.
Roe, meanwhile, has a strong reputation, having run Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign in 2016.
“They only support serious conservatives and supporters of the President and strong Republican governors,” Maughan said.
Maughan has closely aligned himself with DeSantis’ platform and strongly supports President Donald Trump, he said. He touts a fiscally conservative platform and a record on environmental conservation.
Of course, Axiom’s entry into the race also signals the serious competitive nature of the contest to succeed retiring state Rep. Ray Rodrigues.
Maughan through April has raised the most in outside contributions but now trails Estero businessman Adam Botana.
Through August, Maughan had pulled in $104,200, and had spent $7,178 already.
Botana had raised $56,370 in outside contributions and also donated $50,000 of his own money toward the bid. He had only spend $4,206 through August.
Meanwhile, former Congressional staffer Jesse Purdon remains a threat in his own right.
Through August, he raised $38,585, and has spent $5,214.
Axiom notably has been involved in a number of “scorched earth” primaries, the Cruz campaign being chief among them.
And considering the tone and tenor of Maughan’s last legislative run, against state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto in 2016, bringing on Axiom shows some preparation for a similarly fractious primary.
