Anne Geggis
Republican Rep. Brian Mast has collected his biggest quarterly haul ever, raising more than $1 million during the first quarter of 2022 in his bid for a fourth term representing Florida in Congress, his staff says.
Mast’s total cash on hand adds up to nearly $2.8 million.
Among all 435 U.S. House members, Mast is 26th-highest fundraiser overall and No. 2 fundraiser among Florida House members. Among Florida Representatives, Mast is led only by Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who is the 12th-highest fundraiser in the U.S. House.
His donations show strong grassroots support throughout the country. Notable names on Mast’s donor list for the first quarter of 2022 include Marshall Field, a scion of the famed Chicago department store of the same name, who gave $900 in the first quarter; Robert Goergen, a North Palm Beach investor, who gave $5,000; and George Strawbridge Jr. of Delaware, who gave $2,900 in the first quarter, bringing his donation to the maximum level of $5,800 for this election cycle. Strawbridge’s grandfather was the owner of the Campbell Soup Company.
Mast also received support from a smattering of political action committees, with two of them tied for writing checks with the biggest number. Home Depot’s political action committee and Engineers Political Education Committee each contributed $5,000.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee gave Mast two $2,900 donations, for a total donation of $5,800 for this cycle. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings PAC gave to Mast’s campaign four different times during this period, chipping in a total of $7,500 in the last quarter.
Airborne interests and airlines made a strong showing among Mast’s donors, accounting for the largest amount of donations from a single sector, collectively sending $15,000 to Mast.
Mast’s big expenditures include $82,070 for direct marketing services from Image Direct LLC in Frederick, Maryland; about $63,000 to Red Rock Strategies in Las Vegas for digital consulting; $60,000 for strategy consulting to MLSC in Coral Gables; and $4,636 to America Direct Inc. in Forest, Virginia for direct marketing.
Meanwhile, Mast’s competitors’ fundraising prowess doesn’t come close to matching his own.
Republican Melissa Martz reported raising $13,427 and having $8,607 cash on hand on March 31.
Republican Leonard Serratore showed a total of $668 cash on hand at the end of this quarterly period and no donations to the campaign, except for a $367 loan he made to the effort.
Former state Senate candidate Corinna Balderramos Robinson is the only Democratic candidate filed for the race. Her financials show $6,333 raised in the first three months of 2022 and a total of $3,109 in available cash as of March 31.
Aaron Hamstead filed to run for the seat on April 5, under the banner of “Independent Conservative Democratic,” a filing shows. But no financial reports have been submitted, according to federal records.
The decennial redistricting process won’t do much to change the lean of Mast’s district, according to an analysis of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ map that’s expected to be adopted. Mast’s district, currently Florida’s 18th Congressional District, becomes Florida’s 21st Congressional District under DeSantis’ proposal. President Donald Trump won that district by nearly 10 percentage points, according to Matt Isbell of MCI Maps.
Under DeSantis’ map, Mast’s district remains largely the same, including northern Palm Beach County and extending into Martin and St. Lucie counties.
The campaigns were facing a deadline April 15 to report all financial activity between Jan. 1 and March 31.
