Jacob Ogles
The political committee backing Charlie Crist’s campaign for Governor raised $130,500 during the month of June.
That’s certainly a step down from the $1.2 million plus the committee raised in May, its first month of operations. Crist, a Democratic Congressman from St. Petersburg, formed the committee ahead of announcing he would challenge Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ reelection.
It’s also less than the $416,000 raised in June by Florida Consumers First, the committee supporting Democratic Primary opponent Nikki Fried. Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner announced on Tuesday her committee pulled in $416,000 — and that her official campaign raised $396,000 — in the first month since she announced her own run for Governor.
Crist’s team has not released June fundraising reports for his official campaign account.
Fried’s committee has been open since she first ran for Agriculture Commissioner in 2018. She also raised $214,832 in May before launching her gubernatorial campaign.
That shows Friends of Charlie Crist has still raised more since its formation, but most of the activity came in May.
The largest single new donation came from Gerry Rosenthal, who donated $20,000 to the committee on the last day of June. While listed as a retiree, Rosenthal is best known as long-time President of West Palm Beach law firm Rosenthal, Levy, Simon & Ryles.
Several other individuals wrote five-figure checks early in the month as well.
The committee in June spent $17,569. The bulk of that went toward compliance services with Washington-based MBA Consulting Group, which was paid $5,044 in June. Evan Lawlor, the committee chair, pulled in a $3,621 salary.
Crist, before his election to Congress as a Democrat in 2016, served as a Republican Governor of Florida from 2006 to 2010. He ran for Senate in 2010, but facing a significant Primary challenge from Marco Rubio ran as an independent and lost. He ran for Governor as a Democrat in 2014 and narrowly lost to incumbent Gov. Rick Scott, now a U.S. Senator.
