Jim Bonfiglio continues General Election money surge, adds nearly $63K in newest HD 89 reports

Democratic candidate Jim Bonfiglio is reporting his best outside fundraising period of the House District 89 cycle, as he added nearly $63,000 to his campaign account Sept. 19-Oct. 2.

Bonfiglio has already been drastically ramping up his money operation in recent weeks as he challenges GOP Rep. Mike Caruso. But the newest financial reports show Bonfiglio besting even that recent stretch as Caruso collected just over $29,000.

The Democratic challenger courted a whopping 2,807 individual donations during the period, largely from outside Florida. Just 4% of those donations came from inside the state.

Many out-of-state donations were for small sums, however. Around 21% of Bonfiglio’s total haul during the period — just over $13,000 — came from Florida donors.

Bonfiglio’s political committee, Putting Voters First, also added $40,000 during the period. The PC also shipped out $40,000 to the Florida Democratic Party during the same period, meaning those new funds won’t allow Bonfiglio to spend any additional money on the race.

He spent plenty during the most recent reporting period. Bonfiglio’s campaign account alone dropped nearly $70,000. More than $61,000 of that went to Image Plus Graphics for printing costs. His PC also spent more than $6,500, all of which went toward Doyle Strategies for mail media consulting.

GOP Rep. Paul Renner‘s PC, Conservatives for Principled Leadership, sent $1,000 to Caruso’s campaign account. Four separate Florida CPA PAC organizations each donated $1,000 to Caruso as well. He also courted maxed-out, $1,000 donations from the Florida Chamber of Commerce PAC and from two different Florida Police Benevolent Association PACs.

The Florida GOP also contributed more than $16,000 in in-kind contributions to Caruso in an effort to hold the seat. Those came in the form of polling and staff costs. Bonfiglio received more than $3,600 in in-kind contributions from the Florida Democratic Party in the form of phone calls and staff costs.

With data current as of Oct. 2 — about one month before the General Election — Caruso holds just over $151,000. Bonfiglio is sitting on nearly $128,000.

Bonfiglio and Caruso are facing off for a second straight cycle after Caruso won the 2018 contest by just 32 votes out of more than 78,000 cast.

Through mid-August, Caruso had easily been the better fundraiser in the contest. But Bonfiglio is flipping that trend as he looks to flip the seat for Democrats. HD 89 runs up the coast of Palm Beach County and is home to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Candidates and political committees faced a Friday deadline to report all financial activity through Oct. 2.