Kelly Hayes
St. Petersburg City Council candidate Dane Kuplicki raked in $11,246 during the opening month of his campaign, narrowing the lead by opponent Richmond Floyd, who is also vying for the District 8 seat.
The local optometrist filed to run for the seat at the start of March. Kuplicki joins Floyd, a St. Pete teacher, in the race for the seat currently held by Amy Foster, who is facing term limits. Foster has served on the Council since being elected in 2013.
While Kuplicki outraised his opponent this period, with Floyd only bringing in $8,337 for the month of March, Floyd still has the lead in total funds available — an advantage in part due to his earlier entrance into the race.
But, Kuplicki is nearing Floyd’s total quickly, especially with the addition of $5,000 in self-funding, which the candidate reported separate from this month’s campaign donations.
Kuplicki’s campaign had about 30 donors in the latest report, including about nine contributors who gave $1,000, which included Maverick Realty and a handful of medical doctors.
As far as spending, the candidate only dished out $79 this past month on credit card processing fees.
Despite being out-raised his opponent this round, Floyd saw a significant number of donors — about 230. From his report, it’s clear Floyd is running a growing grassroots campaign. He did not receive a single $1,000 donation. And, besides a $500 donation from the Pinellas County Democratic Progressive Caucus, all of Floyd’s donors appear to be individuals.
Floyd also amped up his expenditures this time around, spending $1,905 on marketing materials, advertising and processing fees.
As far as cash on hand, Floyd will enter April with $25,321 and Kuplicki will go in with $16,167, including the $5,000 personal loan.
District 8 borders the west side of I-275, north of south St. Pete including the historic Kenwood neighborhood.
