Kelly Hayes
Republican Jason Holloway raised nearly $40,000 in March as he campaigned in Florida House District 58.
That kept him atop the funding race against former Rep. Kim Berfield as they battle to replace Rep. Chris Latvala.
Holloway collected $39,200 last month between his campaign and affiliated political committee, Keep Florida Red 2022. In the same timeframe, Berfield’s campaign collected $650.
Holloway, a former legislative aide for Sen. Darryl Rouson, has so far amassed $158,700 between his campaign and political committee. That includes $23,500 in self-funding. Berfield has collected $59,085 since launching her campaign.
Holloway’s campaign account raised $8,200 last month from 10 contributors, including eight $1,000 donations from individuals like outgoing Sen. Jeff Brandes and attorney Greg Karch, managing shareholder of DLT Law Group.
He also courted $1,000 donations from organizations like Solar Sanitation Inc., DLT Law Group and Floridians for a Better Florida PAC. Holloway’s political committee brought in $31,000 from four donors: DLT Law Group, Karch and KP Distributed Ventures, each of which donated $10,000, and Floridians for a Better Florida, which gave $1,000.
As for spending, Holloway was not very active last month. His campaign dished out $602 on accounting services and processing fees, and his political committee spent $350, also on accounting services.
Berfield reported a small month, collecting $650 from three individual donors. She spent near the same amount, $563, on accounting.
The former Representative will enter April with $52,069 cash on hand, while Holloway will start the month with $140,300 in available spending money.
A third Republican challenger, Jim Vricos — who entered the race in mid-October — reported raising $1,100 in the past month from two individual donors. He spent $347 in March, primarily going to advertising.
A Democrat, Joseph Saportas, entered the race in late July and has not reported any fundraising. Saportas ran an unsuccessful campaign for Pinellas County Tax Collector in 2020, losing to incumbent Charles Thomas after running a largely unproductive campaign against a powerful incumbent.
Latvala is leaving office because of term limits and is running for Pinellas County Commission in either 2022 or 2024. He has not yet made a decision on which seat he will seek, but with 2022 right around the corner, it’s likely voters will know soon. Latvala already has endorsed Berfield as his successor.
HD 58 covers the middle and northern portions of Pinellas County, including parts of Clearwater and Largo. The redrawn district replaces former House District 67. The Primary Election is Aug. 23.
