First month of fundraising for HD 91 draws more than $100K

A Boca Raton Council member raised more than $70,000 in 20 days in his bid for the open House District 91 seat, as he takes on a Highland Beach Town Commissioner who has staked herself $30,000.

Commissioner Peggy Gossett-Seidman in February raised $6,300 in addition to the $30,000 loan she made her campaign. The Republican will be competing against Democrat Andy Thomson of Boca Raton, an attorney who has won Slosberg-King’s endorsement for the House District 91 seat.

Election finance records show Thomson attracted 190 different donors across many different interests, including property development interests as well as people who have voiced opposition to some of Boca Raton’s proposed development.

Bonnie Miskel, a land use attorney, is among the donors, as well as Katie Barr-MacDougall, who has been active with the land preservation nonprofit, Boca Save Our Beaches. Professors, investors, landscaping companies and architects round out Thomson’s list of donors.

Gossett-Seidman, meanwhile, collected $1,000 checks from an investment manager, an attorney and real estate executives.

Thomson first won his seat on the Boca Raton City Council in a 2018 Special Election. He won re-election unopposed in 2020. He also has experience as a business lawyer.

Gossett-Seidman was also elected to the Highland Town Commission in 2018. She has worked as a writer, becoming the Palm Beach Post’s first woman sports writer, and later working for Burt Reynolds’ Jupiter theater and his television show, the Women’s Tennis Pro Tour and the Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic.

The decennial redistricting shifted the HD 91’s boundary lines, making it slightly more conservative than it had been, according to MCI Maps. In the 2020 presidential contest, 52% of voters in the new HD 91 went for Democrat Joe Biden, while 47% favored Republican Donald Trump. That compares to the 59% support Biden earned in the district’s previous boundaries.

The slightly reshuffled district encompasses Boca Raton, parts of Highland Beach and part of West Boca.

The campaigns faced a March 10 deadline to report all finance activity through the end of February.