Ryan Nicol
Republican candidate Rick Kozell is keeping up his status as the best fundraiser in the House District 82 contest, adding nearly $12,000 in the latest one-week financial reporting period.
Kozell’s campaign raised nearly $8,000 while his political committee, Rick Kozell for Florida, added another $4,000. Kozell has now brought in close to $450,000 between those two entities this cycle.
That allowed Kozell to spend big in his latest report, which covers financial activity from July 25-31. Kozell’s PC spent another $25,000 on media expenses with Mentzer Media. Another $9,600 went toward The Stoneridge Group for direct mail expenditures.
Overall, Kozell spent nearly $38,000 during the period. That total was topped only by former Rep. Carl Domino, who burned through nearly $41,000 as he seeks a return to the House.
Domino’s campaign has been entirely self-funded, as he’s dropped $141,000 of his own money into this campaign, though he added no cash in his newest report.
Until the most recent reporting period, more than $100,000 of that money remained unspent. However, Domino is now showing he’s serious about putting that cash to use, as he sent nearly $41,000 to Majority Strategies LLC for advertising and marketing expenses from July 25-31.
Retired U.S. Marine John Snyder is also competing for the GOP nod in the Aug. 18 primary. Snyder raised another $5,200 in the final week of July and put in nearly $800 in loans as well. Snyder spent more than $12,000 during the period, most of which went to McLaughlin Media for advertising expenses.
Heading into the home stretch, all three candidates are holding similar amounts of cash. Snyder has more than $69,000 available. Domino holds just over $61,000 while Kozell is close behind with more than $59,000.
Elise Edwards Ackerly is the only candidate running for the Democratic nomination. She added just $100 during the period and has raised less than $5,000 so far. She has around $2,700 available going forward.
The district leans right, with Republicans holding a voter registration advantage of 19 percentage points. HD 82 covers part of Palm Beach and Martin counties, including Jupiter, Indiantown and Hobe Sound. Republican Rep. MaryLynn Magar is term-limited.
Candidates and political committees faced a Friday, Aug. 7 deadline to report all financial activity through July 31.
