Scott Powers
The three Republicans battling in the August 18 Republican primary to run in Florida’s 7th Congressional District have begun spending their cash away while Democratic incumbent Rep. Stephanie Murphy pads an impressive cushion in campaign money as she awaits the winner.
By July 29, Leo Valentin, Yukong Zhao, and Richard Goble had dwindled their campaign funds down to less than $200,000 apiece, while Murphy built her reserves up to $1.4 million, according to the latest reports from the Federal Election Commission, covering campaign finance activity from July 1-29.
All three Republicans have shown willingness to self-fund their campaigns to some extent, and all three are unloading those funds as they battle in what could be a very close primary election.
Valentin, a radiologist from Orlando, has raised nearly a half-million dollars total, $496,472. That includes $190,000 he lent his campaign. He raised $32,637 in July, including one Political Action Committee contribution, for $2,500, from the Society of Interventional Radiology. He spent $178,073. He heads into August with less left than he lent his campaign, a cash balance of $184,775.
Zhao, a businessman from Orlando, has raised $307,887, including $30,000 he lent his campaign in July. He raised $54,773 in July, while spending $86,213. After July 29, he had $82,213 left for the final stretch into the primary.
Goble, a Longwood businessman, has raised just $156,346, and most of that, $144,639, came from candidate loans. In the first 29 days of July, he raised only $1,264 in outside money, while spending $34,306. By July 29, he’d spent nearly all he had, and reported having only $781 left.
Meanwhile, Murphy, of Winter Park, raised another $131,344 in July, a haul that was almost evenly split between money from individuals and money from political action committees.
Once the Republican primary sorts an opponent for her, Murphy will have an advantage in voter registration. CD 7, once dominated by Republicans, now has a strong Democratic lean since it was redistricted to cover Seminole County and parts of northern, central, and eastern Orange County. The latest counts show 37.7% of the electorate are registered Democrats, 32.6% Republicans.
The $69,094 in new PAC money Murphy raised included $5,000 apiece from the PACS representing credit unions, ECOLAB, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, and Nationwide Insurance; $4,000 from the American Medical Association; $3,000 from the PAC representing Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida; and 31 other donations of at least $1,000 apiece from PACS representing other insurance companies, banks, pharmaceutical companies, unions, and political groups such as the Giffords PAC, which supports gun law reforms.
