Drew Wilson
Defuniak Springs Republican Shane Abbott’s fundraising operation kept rolling last month, reporting another $24,000 raised for his bid to represent House District 5.
Abbott’s March fundraising numbers follow a $50,000 report for the last two weeks of February, shortly after he filed to succeed term-limited Rep. Brad Drake.
The new report is not yet viewable on the Florida Division of Elections website. Heading into March, Abbott had $49,662 on hand, including $10,000 in candidate loans.
“We continue to work hard to build support and address the important issues facing our community,” Abbott said Monday. “I’m honored that so many local leaders support my vision of protecting the conservative principles that make Florida great. Working together we can improve our education system, fight for the America First Agenda and ensure our state remains open for business.”
Abbott is one of three Republicans running for the North Florida seat, which covers all of Holmes, Jackson, Walton, and Washington counties as well as part of Bay County. He faces Jackson County Commissioner Clint Pate and Marianna Republican Vance Coley in the primary.
Neither Coley nor Pate have reported their March fundraising numbers.
Coley filed for the seat in June but his campaign had been dormant until February, when it reported $11,500 in contributions. It had $11,690 in the bank on March 1.
Pate, meanwhile, entered the race on Feb. 22. He showed $2,000 raised and no money spent in the final week of February.
HD 5 is favorable to Republicans. Drake hasn’t faced a challenger in the general election since 2016, when he earned more than two-thirds of the vote against no-party candidate Jamey Westbrook. In 2014, he earned nearly three-quarters of the vote against Libertarian candidate Karen Schoen.
However, district lines will shift ahead of the 2022 election because of the once-per-decade reapportionment process. Depending on how lines shift, the current candidates for HD 5 may not be running for the same seat come August 2020.
