Scott Powers
Former Rep. Bob Cortes‘s Republican friends and colleagues in the Florida Legislature want him back.
Cortes, seeking to reclaim the Florida House District 30 seat he lost in the 2018 election, broke fast from the gate in his first month of campaign fundraising, raising $50,000 in May. Most of it came from current and former Republican lawmakers or their political committees.
Twenty-six of them gave him $1,000 checks in May, and another five sent him $500 campaign contributions to help him in his quest to return.
To do so Cortes will have to reflip the seat away from Democratic Rep. Joy Goff-Marcil, who won the 2018 election.
Goff-Marcil raised less than $2,000 in May and has attracted less than $23,000 overall in the 10 months she’s been campaigning for reelection to a second term to represent people of north-central Orange County and southwestern Seminole County.
Yet the former Maitland City Council Member hardly needed much the first time, as Cortes out-raised and out-spent her by a ratio of more than six to one, and she won the election 53-47.
In May, Cortes, a former Longwood Mayor who now lives in Altamonte Springs, gathered 64 contributions of which 42 were for the maximum $1,000 amount.
Among those giving him $1,000 checks were Sen. Manny Diaz‘s Better Florida Education, Rep. Daniel Perez‘s Conservatives for a Better Florida, Sen. Keith Perry‘s Building a Prosperous Florida, House Speaker Jose Oliva‘s Conservative Principles for Florida, Rep. Clay Yarborough‘s Floridians for Conservative Values, Friends of (Rep.) Colleen Burton, Friends of (former Rep.) Matt Caldwell, Rep. Blaise Ingoglia‘s Government Gone Wild PAC, Rep. Tom Leek‘s Living Life With Purpose, Rep. Bobby Payne‘s Conservatives for Rural Florida, Rep. Rene Plasencia‘s Commitment to Opportunity, Rep. Bob Rommel‘s Florida Conservative Committee, Rep. David Santiago‘s Economic Growth PAC, Rep. Travis Hutson‘s Sunshine State Conservatives, former Rep. Chris Dorworth, Rep. Paul Renner‘s Florida Foundation for Liberty, Sen. Ben Albritton‘s Advancing Florida Agriculture, Friends of (Rep.) Ray Rodrigues, Rep. Jason Fischer‘s Conservative Solutions for Jacksonville, Sen. Wilton Simpson‘s Jobs for Florida, former Sen. Jack Latvala‘s Florida Leadership Committee, Sen. David Simmons‘ Citizens for Fiscal Leadership, Rep. Chris Sprowls‘ Floridians for Economic Freedom, Rep. MaryLynn Magar‘s Florida Sunshine Alliance, Rep. Stanley McClain‘s Liberty for Florida, and Sen. Rob Bradley‘s Working for Florida’s Families.
Among those giving him $500 checks, either directly or through committees, were Sen. Dennis Baxley, and Reps. Scott Plakon, Anthony Sabatini, Amber Mariano, and Chris Latvala.
Cortes entered June with $45,640 in the bank.
By contrast, Goff-Marcil picked up 17 contributions, none of them for $1,000, and a total of $2,696 in May. To date, she’s raised $22,832 and entered June with $19,872 in the bank for her reelection bid.
