Ryan Nicol
Hillary Cassel is keeping up a healthy cash lead in the House District 99 Democratic primary.
Cassel has pulled in nearly $122,000 in outside money since filing for the contest in late February. That includes more than $100,000 raised in March, her first full month as a candidate. Cassel’s latest fundraising report shows she collected just under $19,000 in April. She also loaned her campaign $50,000 in February.
Though she dropped off from her March fundraising highs, Cassel still topped her Democratic primary opponent, Jeremy Katzman, in April fundraising. Katzman added less than $3,000 during the month. He has raised about $40,000 since filing in December and has added another $5,000 in loans to his campaign.
Both Cassel and Katzman are seeking to replace House Democratic Co-Leader Evan Jenne, who cannot run for another term in HD 99 because of term limits.
Cassel, a lawyer, continued to court several maxed-out donations from South Florida law firms in April. She’s now sitting on more than $153,000 between her campaign account and her political committee, Friends of Hillary Cassel. That PC has yet to fully ramp up, however, raising just $500 so far.
Katzman holds just over $41,000 in his campaign account, falling around $100,000 short of Cassel’s total so far. Cassel and her husband, Michael, co-founded Cassel & Cassel, P.A. She now focuses on property damage lawsuits, representing individuals seeking insurance payouts after dealing with a fire, storm damage or other catastrophic events.
Katzman, meanwhile, is an administrator at Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Health Professions Division. He’s also a cancer survivor, overcoming a leukemia diagnosis when he was just 21 years old.
HD 99 covers parts of Broward County including Southwest Ranches, Cooper City, Dania Beach and Davie. The district leans heavily Democratic. Jenne was elected to four straight terms, starting in 2014, without facing an opponent once.
Candidates and political committees faced a May 10 deadline to report all financial activity through April 30.
