Quiet fundraising quarters for Al Lawson, John Rutherford

For the two Congressmen representing the Jacksonville area, the second quarter of 2021 saw sluggish fundraising for next year’s elections.

Despite this, both will likely be positioned just fine, with less than competitive elections on the horizon for each.

U.S. Rep. Al Lawson‘s reelection campaign nudged past the $200,000 cash on hand mark.

Lawson, who represents Florida’s 5th Congressional District, raised $66,980 in the quarter. Thus far this election cycle, the third-term Democrat from Tallahassee has raised $105,666.

All told, Lawson has $226,014 on hand.

Of the money raised in the quarter, just $3,450 came from individual contributors. One such donor, Florida Blue’s Darnell Smith, is an indication of how Jacksonville’s establishment has no issue with Lawson, despite being from the other end of the east/west district that parallels Interstate 10 from downtown Jacksonville to the Tallahassee area.

Corporate political action committees comprised most of the rest of the receipts for Lawson in the quarter.

U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, the Jacksonville Republican who represents Florida’s 4th Congressional District, raised slightly less than Lawson in hard money: $63,900 in the quarter. The third-term legislator has raised $79,925 this cycle, and as of the filing had $152,516 on hand in his campaign account.

Local donors fueled a lot of action there, and also in his Rutherford Victory Fund. The political action committee raised just over $100,000 in the mid-year report, money that was moved to the campaign account and to another committee, Citizens for Strengthening the American Republic.

Serious challengers aren’t likely to manifest for either Lawson or Rutherford in 2022, if history is prologue.

Jacksonville Democrat Alvin Brown, a former Mayor of the city, challenged Lawson in the 2018 Democratic Primary and Lawson won handily. 2020 saw no serious challenge.

Rutherford defeated Democrat Donna Deegan in 2020, winning handily and by roughly the same margin by which former President Donald Trump carried the district.