Jacob Ogles
Fort Myers Republican pulled in an extra $79,240 for her congressional campaign during the first quarter of 2020.
The respectable amount means she’s gathered $110,790 for her race in Florida’s 19th Congressional District. But three months into 2020, that still puts her behind what some of her competitors raised before the end of December.
The sitting state lawmaker last year briefly considered a run for state Senate but ruled out a run in May. But she jumped when Rep. Francis Rooney announced her would not run for a third term. In December, she announced her candidacy for Congress.
She raised a modest amount before 2020 closed that was less than most of her Republican opponents. But she formally launched her campaign in January and had another fundraiser in Tampa the same month.
But Fitzenhagen signaled last week this would turn out as a light quarter. She was busy in February and March in her final Legislative Session in the Florida House; term limits prevented her from running again.
Afterward, she came home to a region grappling with a pandemic. Instead of knocking on doors, she found herself lobbying Lee County Commissioners on a potential stay-at-home order and spearheading efforts to raise money for the Immokalee farmers.
The Republican field has shifted a bit since the last filing deadline. Professional political pundit Ford O’Connell dropped out of the race and three new candidates jumped in.
One of those, fast food mogul Casey Askar, raised more than $500,000 for his run in less than two weeks, also revealed Wednesday he has pulled a $3 million candidate loan.
Another new entry, fellow state Rep. Byron Donalds announced a week ago he has raised $335,000 for the race.
As of the end of 2019, state Rep. Dane Eagle had pulled in $422,000 in donations, and Dr. William Figlesthaler had raised $126,000 on top of a $410,000 loan. And former Minnesota lawmaker Dan Severson put a $102,000 loan into his campaign before the year ended as well.
Fitzenhagen did pull in more than Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson pulled in during the fourth quarter of 2019.
Subtracting expenses, Fitzenhagen closed March with $89,839 in cash on hand.
