Ashley Moody gets RPOF assist in June, extends cash lead on Democratic challengers

Attorney General Ashley Moody continued to outpace her Democratic challengers in fundraising last month, state campaign finance records show, pulling in more than $432,000 between her official campaign account and a political committee aiding her campaign.

Her political committee, Friends of Ashley Moody, raised $322,000 of that total, and sent $200,000 to the Republican Party of Florida.

Notable contributors include Publix, which gave $50,000, and RaceTrac, which gave $25,000. In turn, the RPOF spent $148,000 on in-kind contributions, paying for staff and consulting for Moody’s campaign in June.

Meanwhile, Moody’s Democratic opponents, Aramis Ayala, Daniel Uhlfelder and Jim Lewis, raised little more than $60,000 combined in the same span.

Lewis’ reports show he didn’t raise anything last month, while Ayala pulled in nearly $12,800 for her campaign but spent $27,800. Ayala still has $7,800 left in her campaign account.

Uhlfelder, a Santa Rosa Beach lawyer, still leads the Democratic pack in the money chase, raising $38,500 for his main campaign account, but he also had a high burn rate in June, spending $34,000. His political committee, Hold Tallahassee Accountable, reported raising $8,800, but spent $6,300. Between his PAC and his campaign account, he has a war chest of $70,500 as of July 1.

Moody has $6 million cash on hand — $4.6 million in her political committee and $1.4 million in her main campaign account.

The massive cash lead for Moody could be mitigated by outside spending, especially after the primary crowns a Democratic nominee. Ayala, for example, was helped with millions of dollars from an outside group backed by New York billionaire George Soros in her 2016 campaign for Orange-Osceola County state attorney.

But the disparity in finances is a major challenge for the Democratic hopefuls, who must slog through a primary before taking on an incumbent with a multi-million dollar advantage for a down ballot Cabinet position.