Jacob Ogles
Club For Growth Action spent more than $1 million in the past week promoting Byron Donalds and thrashing Casey Askar.
Notices filed with the Federal Election Commission show the Super PAC investing heavily in Florida’s 19th Congressional District. Despite nine Republicans still in the field, the group has its attention focused on just two.
PAC activity shows other forces promoting Dane Eagle and swiping at William Figlesthaler, but spending by the Club For Growth overshadows all else.
The biggest buys from the group happened Thursday, July 23, when Club For Growth spent $485,916 on ads selling voters on Donalds. The group announced in June it was endorsing the state lawmaker.
The same day the group also announced $434,347 on television ads and mailers hitting Askar, a business mogul. The ad blasted Askar for donating money to 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
The now-Utah Senator has fallen out of favor with base voters, casting the lone Republican vote in Congress in favor of impeaching President Donald Trump. The ad criticizes Askar for donating to Romney, but not to Trump four years later.
The group also spent $103,385 on Friday, July 24, to boost Donalds, including $90,000 for door-to-door activity. The same day the group spent $29,084 on anti-Askar mailers. That came on top of $28,584 spent on anti-Askar literature on Tuesday, July 21.
The spending hints the group sees the crowded contest as an Askar-Donalds race, as suggested by a St. Pete Polls survey commissioned by Florida Politics earlier this month.
Other PAC spending shows strong interest in other candidates as well.
Concerned Conservatives, a federal PAC dedicated to supporting Eagle, pumped $26,726 on July 21 into ads promoting the Cape Coral Republican, then put another $8,355 to the cause on July 24.
The same day, the group also spent $13,363 each on pieces knocking Donalds and Figlesthaler. They did the same on July 24 with $2,558.
Honesty America made a $24,500 investment in mailers on July 25 labeling Donalds as a Never-Trumper, and another $5,700 bashing Figlesthaler. Askar supporters formed that group.
Americans for Prosperity also made its entry into the fray, purchasing $11,000 in digital ads boosting the newly endorsed Donalds.
2 comments
Sonja Fitch
July 28, 2020 at 3:02 pm
Telling you just enjoying the goptrump cult just wallop up on each other! Vote Blue !
Florida Guy
July 28, 2020 at 3:23 pm
Sonja Fitch, you are the reason I read the comments section. Just a note that not all GOP candidates are crazy. This race is incredible in that there are four candidates that should have done soul searching before they jumped in. DUI charges along with campaign finance potential fraud, Fake educational degrees, coworkers that are into child phonographic material , drug charges and bribery. Again these GOP candidates do not deserve to serve. There are a remaining 5 who seem like stand up candidates. Word is the house race in that district also has a few nuts with fraud and dui charges. Then the state senate race is in attacks over each other. No platforms just attacks. Makes a person wonder what’s in the water down there. One might think the GOP is needing to serve Kool-Aid with every ballot.
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