Loranne Ausley raises over $60K in September for SD 3 bid

Tallahassee Rep. Loranne Ausley continued piling on cash for her Senate campaign last month.

Ausley, a Democrat, raised $61,200 last month in her quest to take over Senate District 3, the seat currently held by term-limited Democratic Sen. Bill Montford.

Ausley brought in $44,260 of that total through her campaign account, with the $17,000 balance coming in via her affiliated political committee, Florida 2020.

The campaign report lists 17 $1,000 contributions, the maximum allowable for state legislative campaigns.

Among the max donors were lobbyist Ron Book and his law firm, Miami Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo and Floridians for Ethics, Accountability and Responsibility, a political committee tied to Ft. Lauderdale Democratic Sen. Gary Farmer.

The South Florida fundraising effort was helped along by a series of fundraisers Ausley held last month.

Her campaign account only spent $3,755 for the month, leaving her with more than $243,000 in the bank.

The committee money came in through four checks.

AFSCME, Humana and the Florida Police Benevolent Association each chipped in $5,000 while Florida Blue rounded out the report with a $2,000 contribution.

Florida 2020 had about $38,000 on hand heading into October.

Ausley is being challenged by Republicans Benjamin Horbowy and Marva Preston, as well as Libertarian Party candidate Erin Gill.

Preston was the only one of the three to report any September receipts. She added $4,300 to her campaign account, bringing her to-date total up to $7,155 with $5,127 in the bank.

Horbowy has less than $250 in his campaign account while Gill has zilch.

SD 3 is a Democratic-leaning seat that covers all of Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Hamilton, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Taylor and Wakulla counties.