Ryan Nicol
Despite sitting in a relatively safe district, Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch added more than $236,000 in fundraising during the final quarter of 2019.
That’s according to the latest reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
Several candidates have filed to compete for the seat in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District. That includes Democrat Imtiaz Mohammad and non-party affiliated candidate Omar Reyes. A quartet of Republicans — Jessi Melton, James Pruden, Christine Scott and Eddison Walters — have declared their candidacies as well. Walters also ran for the seat in 2018.
But Deutch is a fairly safe bet to prevail in the contest. He faced a 2018 primary challenge from Democratic candidate Jeff Fandl in 2018. Deutch cruised to victory with nearly 87% of the vote.
On the Republican side that year, Nicolas Kimaz defeated Walters and GOP blogger Javier Manjarres.
But Deutch soundly defeated Kimaz in the general election. Deutch earned 62% of the vote, while Kimaz pulled in just 38%. That 24-point margin is a massive gap to make up for any would-be Republican challenger.
Still, Deutch continues to raise money. He’s collected more than $735,000 for this cycle through the end of 2019. And he’ll enter 2020 with more than $561,000 in cash on hand.
That’s far more than any of his declared opponents, several of whom have shown no cash raised so far. Pruden is the second-highest fundraiser in the contest. He’s added more than $92,000 from August through the end of December.
Deutch has served in Congress since 2010 when he won the contest for Florida’s 19th Congressional District. After redistricting, he represented Florida’s 21st Congressional District from 2012 through 2016. Then, after a new court-ordered redistricting, he landed in his current seat, representing Congressional District 22.
That district now covers portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties including Parkland, Coral Springs and Fort Lauderdale.
Deutch also served in the state Senate from 2006 through 2010.
Federal candidates face a Jan. 31 deadline to report all financial activity through the end of 2019.
