Val Demings picks up $208K in Q4 for re-election bid

Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings added more than $208,000 to her reelection campaign fund in the fourth quarter of 2019, cash picked up at a time when she was in a national spotlight during the impeachment investigation hearings of President Donald Trump.

Neither the total nor the sources of her funds stood out in comparison with campaigns for other members from Florida. Demings ended the year having raised $453,071, and entered the 2020 election year with about $154,103 in the bank for her bid for a third term representing Florida’s 10th Congressional District in western Orange County.

Her fourth-quarter contributions were nearly evenly split between individual donations [totaling $109,586,] and money from political action committees [$99,000.] The fourth-quarter 2019 PAC money came from a wide variety of sources, including those representing companies with major investments in Central Florida, such as SeaWorld and Comcast Corp. and NBCUniversal, labor unions, and major international corporations that ranged from General Motors to Amazon to Merck & Co.

There are two Republicans seeking to take her on: Kirk Troen and Angela Marie Walls-Windhauser.

Troen picked up $18,460 in the fourth quarter, all of it from individual donors. That gave him $27,216 raised, and $17,597 in the bank.

Walls-Windhauser has not yet filed any campaign finance documents.

While Demings scored scores of small-dollar donations, she also attracted dozens of four-figure donations, mostly from her district. Besides $2,800 from her husband Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, she picked up two $2,800 checks from Boars Head founder Frank Brunckhorst of Sarasota, two $2,800 checks from Orlando trial lawyer Mike Mayer, two from businessman James Gilchrist of Orlando, and one from Orlando banker Harold Mills.

Among PAC checks she received were $2,500 from Comcast Corp and NBCUniversal, $2,500 from American Resort Development Association, $2,000 from SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, $1,000 from Harris Corp., and $1,000 from Lockheed Martin, all either based or heavily invested in Orlando.

Labor union PAC money sent to her campaign in the fourth quarter included $2,500 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, $2,000 from the AFSCME, $2,000 from the National Association of Postal Supervisors, $1,500 from the International Association of Fire Fighters, $1,000 from the American Federation of Government Employees, and $1,000 from the National Air Traffic Controllers Union.

Corporate PAC money donated to her included $3,000 from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, $2,500 from MasterCard Inc., $2,500 from Amazon, $2,500 from Pfizer Inc., $2,500 from Honeywell International, $2,500 from Cox Enterprises, $2,500 from Nextera Energy, $2,500 from Home Depot, $1,500 from News Corp., $1,500 from New York Life, $1,000 from General Motors, $1,000 from Facebook, $1,000 from FedEx, $1,000 from Southwest Airlines, and $1,000 from Merck & Co.