Anna Paulina Luna leads CD 13 in Q2 earnings, still behind Amanda Makki overall

Anna Paulina Luna raised more than any other candidate for Florida’s 13th Congressional District, including the incumbent, during the second quarter fundraising period April 1-June 30.

Luna raised $414,000, bringing her campaign total to $784,000.

While she stepped up her game in the last fundraising reporting period before the August 18 primary, where she faces four other GOP opponents, it wasn’t enough to put her ahead of the pack in total raised or cash on hand.

Amanda Makki, who’s leading the race in polls, raised $320,000 in the latest report, but has brought in $1.06 million to date.

Makki also leads with cash on hand with $791,000, of which about $734,000 is available after subtracting campaign debts, which amount to more than $56,000.

Luna has $330,000 on hand.

Makki’s debts include $19,000 for surveys through McLaughlin & Associates, nearly $15,000 for fundraising consulting and online advertising with Harris Media, nearly $8,400 to Consumer Credit Innovations for media buys and about $5,700 in legal fees to Dickinson Wright.

Makki’s contributions include more than $41,000 from political action committees in the second quarter and $137,000 to date.

Luna has taken just $4,500 in PAC money, none of it in the most recent report.

Meanwhile, George Buck, who previously ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Charlie Crist in 2018, is besting Luna in overall fundraising, with $881,000 raised to date.

He took in $271,000 in the latest period. However, Buck retains just $52,000 of that cash and owes $18,500 for fundraising consulting, printing and bookkeeping, leaving him with just $36,000 available to spend.

Still, that’s better than two other candidates in the GOP primary, Sheila Griffin and Sharon Barry Newby.

Newby has raised just $28,000 to date, including $17,000 in the latest quarter, most of which are self-contributions and loans. She has just $3,400 remaining.

Griffin is even worse off, with her campaign about $18,000 in the red.

Griffin also raised $17,000 in the latest quarter and $47,000 total. She has just $3,200 on hand, but owes $21,000 for accounting, office rent, computers and fundraising consulting.

None of the GOP candidates even come close to Crist. He raised $303,000 in the second quarter, and has a deep-pocketed war chest with more than $3 million.

While the district is reliably blue since redistricting including liberal hotbeds in downtown St. Petersburg and South St. Petersburg in 2016 wen Crist was first elected, he faces his first major opposition campaign.

Both Luna and Makki are messaging their campaigns less against each other and more about a referendum on what they describe as Crist’s alliance with socialist policies, a fascinating charge considering just over a decade ago he was a Republican Governor.