Jacob Ogles
Rep. Delores Hogan Johnson jumped back into a money lead in her reelection effort in House District 84.
Between Sept. 5 and 18, the Fort Pierce Democrat pulled in $19,172. Dana Trabulsy, the Republican challenger, raised $7,625 in the same time period.
The incumbent raised $73,919 and holds $50,135 in cash on hand. The GOP candidate has collected a total of $68,343, and still has $42,605 in the bank.
That means Johnson has significantly grown her resource advantage from a few weeks ago, when Trabulsy was within a couple thousand of the sitting lawmaker in cash on hand.
But the widening gap between the campaigns comes in part because Trabulsy invested in the race more aggressively in September. In the last reporting period, the Republican spent $6,950. Most of that came through payments to SimWins, but there’s also been an increased investment in local grassroots services in the Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie area. In the same time frame, Johnson invested $1,450 on call time and photos.
As for sources of support, Johnson’s leap in contributions comes largely courtesy of $9,228 from the Florida Democratic Party in cash and in-kind support.
Other donations to Johnson’s campaign include $1,000 checks from financial services firm Akerman and the Florida Professional Firefighters, as well as individuals like Marjorie Roswell, Lawrence Hess and Sanford Woods, Sr.
Trabulsy’s intake includes maximum donations from Rep. Paul Renner’s political committee Conservatives for Principles Leadership and Rep. Randy Fine’s Friends of Randy Fine. The National Federation of Independent Business Florida political committee also donated $1,000, as did attorney Jeffrey Rollins’ firm. Husband Paul Trabulsy also gave $1,000 to the campaign.
Johnson won election in 2018 over Republican Mark Gotz with just 51.4% of the vote. She succeeded Democratic Rep. Larry Lee, Jr., but the close margins mean Democrats once again find themselves on defense in the region.
The Republican Party of Florida previously invested significantly with Trabulsy, and both candidates move forward with strong party backing.
