Anne Geggis
Katherine Waldron is all in for a race to represent Palm Beach County in the Statehouse — contributing $10,000 of her own money to the campaign in February.
February’s loan means she has put a total of $35,000 of her own money into her campaign for state Representative, election records show. That puts her No. 1 in the cash race among two potential rivals whose addresses fall into the same redrawn district as Waldron’s.
Waldron was the first Democrat to file to run for the House seat that Democrat Rep. Matt Willhite is vacating to run for Palm Beach County Commission. But earlier this month, Waldron announced she’s running to represent the newly drawn House District 93.
The new HD 93 resulted from the renumbering and redrawing of districts due to the decennial redistricting process. It will include the village of Wellington, portions of Greenacres and western parts of Boynton Beach. It is slightly to the south of the district Waldron first filed to represent.
The new district also encompasses part of the territory she represents on the Port of Palm Beach District Commission and a large part of the House district she first filed to represent.
The districts are similar enough that two of her opponents in House District 86 will also be running against her in renumbered and newly constituted HD 93, should they file the necessary paperwork.
Former Wellington Mayor and Democrat Robert Margolis, who originally filed to represent Willhite’s district, also lives in the new HD 93, according to paperwork filed with the state elections office. Margolis raised $175 in February and has $707 in cash on hand.
Also, Dr. Saulis Banionis, a pain medicine specialist, would fall into the newly constituted HD 93 and be set up to run against Waldron, according to the address provided to the Department of State. But that address appears to be the Republican’s medical office, not his home. He did not return a call from Florida Politics seeking clarification. Banionis raised $500 for his campaign in February. He has $790 cash on hand, according to state records.
Meanwhile, besides the $10,000 loan she made to her campaign, Waldron’s biggest donation — $1,000 — came from Sachs Media Group, based in Tallahassee.
For February’s expenditures, Waldron sent a check for $1,000 for social media and website services with Roket Marketing in Arlington, Va., and another $1,000 check for fundraising services with Cornerstone Solutions in West Palm Beach.
Those expenses left her with $46,064 cash on hand, according to finance reports.
The campaigns were facing a March 20 deadline to report all campaign expenditures and contributions.
