Renzo Downey
Perhaps unsurprisingly, former Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant raised the most funds of any Democratic House candidate statewide.
The $358,000 in contributions to her campaign is also good enough for second place regardless of party, coming behind Rep. Daniel Perez‘s $500,000. She is also the only Democrat in the top 5 and the only non-incumbent in the group.
That’s as of Friday’s fundraising update ahead of the Tuesday Primary Election. She faces math teacher Arnitta Grice-Walker for the Democratic nomination and will face former Rep. Jim Kallinger in the General Election if she receives the nod from Democrats in Tallahassee’s House District 9.
Tant is the clear favorite to win the Democratic primary and has drowned out Grice-Walker, who raised no money this month.
She is also the favorite in November to beat Kallinger, a Republican who represented part of Orange County from 2000 to 2004. Kallinger complicated Tant’s bid to represent the capital city after filing his candidacy the day before the qualification deadline in June.
He also serves as a Senior Strategist for Front Line Strategies in political and issues campaigns.
Tant is endorsed by U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, Sen. Bill Montford and Rep. Loranne Ausley, who currently represents the district, but is instead running for term-limited Montford’s seat. The Florida Medical Association has also endorsed her.
This month, she raised $22,000, buoyed by maximum donations from Lawson, several health care political committees and others. Through Thursday, she still had a $138,000 war chest in her personal account.
Her own political committee, People First Leadership, has raised $50,000, of which the committee has only spent $3,000.
Meanwhile, Kallinger has maintained a steady, yet outmatched, fundraising pace. As of Friday, he has raised $8,300, including $1,250 this month. He has also staked $5,000 of his own cash on the race so far and spent less than that amount, leaving $8,700 in his account.
HD 9 includes the bulk of Leon County, giving Democrats the advantage.
