Ryan Nicol
Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson raised just over $43,000 in the third quarter, giving her nearly $459,000 available to defend her seat in Florida’s 24th Congressional District.
Wilson’s third quarter numbers are lagging those of several of her South Florida counterparts. However, Wilson has not faced a competitive election in years. She earned 76% of the vote in 2020 and did not court a General Election opponent in 2018 or 2016.
But the state’s decennial redistricting process could affect the district’s boundaries. CD 24 would need a hard shift to the right to become competitive, however.
The Engineers Political Education Committee, the International Longshoremen’s Association and SEIU each donated $5,000 to Wilson’s reelection bid during the quarter. Yolanda Cash Jackson of Becker & Poliakoff also contributed $1,000.
Democratic challenger Christine Olivo added nearly $16,000 in available cash during the quarter, not counting in-kind contributions. That total did include a $7,000 loan from Olivo to her campaign.
Olivo spent $7,500 more than she raised during the period. Wilson, meanwhile, spent less than $15,000 during the period for a net gain of just under $29,000.
That allowed Wilson to expand her cash-on-hand advantage in the race despite the low fundraising totals. Wilson holds nearly $459,000 as of Sept. 30 while Olivo is reporting less than $500 on hand.
Lavern Spicer, the lone Republican candidate in the race and Wilson’s 2020 General Election opponent, added more than $24,000 during the third quarter. The vast majority of that cash came from “unitemized” contributions. The FEC does not require campaigns to list donors whose aggregate donation amounts sit under $200.
As of Sept. 30, Spicer holds less than $2,600. Spicer pulled in only 20% of the vote in 2020, losing by more than 55 percentage points to Wilson.
CD 24’s current boundaries stretch from southern Broward County into northern Miami-Dade County. The district includes all or parts of Hollywood, Miami Gardens and North Miami.
Candidates and political committees faced a Friday deadline to report all financial activity through Sept. 30.
