Anne Geggis
Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky raised $40,500 in December for a re-election bid that’s likely to be in a different district than her current Senate District 29.
The redistricting process could also put her in a re-election bid against a fellow Democratic incumbent.
The way things are now, Polsky would have a challenger that has raised a negligible amount of money in SD 29, which covers parts of Palm Beach County — including South Bay, Belle Glade and Wellington — and parts of Broward County — including Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Parkland and Pompano Beach.
With the Senate going through its redistricting process, however, some maps show Polsky’s home in Senate District 31, which is currently represented by fellow Democratic Sen. Lori Berman. Polsky has said she’ll likely move to run for the Senate District 34 seat. But that district, which currently extends along the county’s eastern side from Deerfield Beach to Hollywood, is occupied. Sen. Gary Farmer has represented the Broward County district since 2016.
Farmer said it’s a violation of the rules to be talking about incumbency before the maps have been voted on.
“I’ll do what I’ve always done: continue working hard to represent the voters who have elected me twice,” he said. “I’ll assume Sen. Polsky is doing the same.”
Whichever district she chooses to compete in, Polsky’s December fundraising stands out among her recent totals. It was her best fundraising month since October 2020, adding together the $6,000 her personal campaign raised and the $34,500 her political committee, Americans for Progress, collected.
December’s largest donation — $10,000 — came from U.S. Sugar Corp. Her second-biggest donation — $5,000 — came from Floridians for Economic Advancement, based in Tallahassee.
The largest amount of multiple donations from one sector, adding up to $11,000 in donations, came from beverage distributors. In addition to $1,000 from Florida Fine Wine &. Spirits, based in Bethesda, Maryland, four companies gave her $2,500 each. They include Western Beverage in Deerfield Beach, Gold Coast Beverage in Miami, Brown Distributing Company in Richmond, Virginia, and ABC Liquors in Orlando.
The health care sector was represented with a combined total of $5,500 to Polsky’s campaign, including $1,000 each from three different affiliates of hospital chain HCA Healthcare.
Polsky’s political committee also received $2,500 donations from PhRMA, a trade association of medical researchers in Washington, and the Alliance for Honest Government, a political committee.
Two firefighters’ political committees — Firefighter FactPAC, based in West Palm Beach, and FPF Fire PC — each gave her $1,000.
Comcast Corp., based in Philadelphia, contributed $1,500 to Polsky’s campaign.
Polsky’s biggest expenses in December were $6,000 paid to Polaris Public Affairs, based in Miami Beach, and $4,500 to Spotlight Strategies in Orlando, a firm of fundraising consultants.
December expenses left Polsky’s campaign with nearly $212,000 in cash on hand.
The Republican challenger in her current district, Brian Norton, has $1,020 in his campaign accounts, including a $1,000 self-loan, and showed no fundraising in December.
Polsky and Norton faced off for the seat in 2020, with Polsky winning with 56% of the vote.
Polsky’s campaign was faced a Monday deadline to report all December financial activity.
