Janelle Irwin Taylor
Rep. Jamie Grant is continuing to rake in donations for his reelection campaign.
Grant raised nearly $28,000, bringing his total raised this year to $74,250. Grant’s potential challengers, Jessica Harrington, raised $7,061, and Alexander McDonald has raised less than $3,500 since entering the race in September.
Harrington, a Democrat, has been waging a long-shot campaign against the Republican incumbent in a red district. The difference in how the two candidates are bringing in their money paints a vivid picture of a powerful and connected incumbent versus a grassroots progressive with broad community support.
In the month of October, the most recent month for which campaign finance reports are available, Grant collected a total of 40 contributions. They average $707 each. Harrington’s campaign stands in stark contrast, collecting 89 contributions at an average of just $79 each. Harrington’s donors represent Democratic Party regulars who often contribute to campaigns — people like attorney Erin Aebel and engineer Jim Shirk.
Grant’s contributions are rolling in by way of $1,000 checks from large corporations, businesses and special interest groups. Grant’s high-roller contributors include two arms of Disney — Disney Vacation Development and Disney Destinations — Kimmins Contracting Corp. and its founder, Joseph Williams, Oxford Exchange owner and mega-McDonald’s franchise owner Blake Casper, RSA Consulting Group, a lobbying firm affiliated with Ron Pierce, Verizon, Frontier Communications and the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums.
Not a single business, political committee or special interest group contributed to Harrington’s campaign in October and almost every single donation originated from a Tampa Bay area resident. Only one contribution came from out of state and only three others from outside the Tampa Bay region.
Some of Harrington’s notable contributors include former University of South Florida President Betty Castor, Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp, former Florida Attorney General candidate Sean Shaw, Hillsborough County Commission candidate Sky White, former St. Petersburg City Council candidate Orlando Acosta, Safety Harbor Mayoral candidate Tanja Vidovic and state House candidate Julie Jenkins. All are forward-facing Democrats.
Harrington, a local public schoolteacher, has been fiercely campaigning, but she has a major challenge ahead. House District 64, the seat she’s running for, has 6,795 more registered Republicans than Democrats on the Hillsborough side of the District. Republicans make up 39 percent of the total electorate in the district, compared to just 31 percent for Democrats. In the sliver of Pinellas County the district represents, Republicans outweigh Democrats by about 4,000 voters.
She’s also forced to wage a primary campaign against McDonald who, though his fundraising is sluggish so far, already includes a $100 contribution from Harrington herself as part of a pledge the two are making to keep their campaigns focused on ousting Grant, not hurting each other.
Meanwhile, Grant still has more than $45,000 left to spend, more than Harrington has raised by nearly double. Harrington has just $13,000 left in the bank to wage a campaign against an incumbent political insiders view as virtually unbeatable.
One comment
Jan
November 15, 2019 at 7:44 am
If Grants’s constituents knew he tried to pass a bill the last legislative session that would take away the ability of HOAs to control themselves and allow short-term rentals everywhere, they would not vote for him. Take a look at Grant’s bill from last year, HB 987, which says it’s a “constitutional right” to do whatever you want with your house. Grant has spoken on behalf on the short-term rental industry at one of their conferences in Orlando. Grant would like to see short-term rentals everywhere, destroying the fabric of communities and destroying the concept of neighborhoods.
As this article points out, Grant’s source of money is “large corporations, businesses and special interest groups.” Do residents really want James Grant making decisions about where and how they live?
I do not even live in Grant’s district, but know of Grant because of his complete support for short-term rentals everywhere. Don’t let him turn neighborhoods into strangerhoods.
If Grant is re-elected, he’ll see it as proof that this is what his constituents want. Mini hotels with large numbers of rotating strangers every week – in your neighborhood.
Our community did a survey of almost 1,400 Florida residents through Survey Monkey about short-term rentals. The results were overwhelmingly for local control, no short-term rentals in communities zoned single-family, and the importance of knowing your neighbors if you chose to live in an area zoned residential.
Your vote is important. Please send a message to James Grant that you are not for unfettered short-term rentals. They certainly have a place, but not in communities zoned single-family.
(And Ms. Taylor, thank you for this article, and I would be happy to send you a copy of the survey – just email me and I will send it to you.)
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