Wes Wolfe
Dean Black picked up more than $6,000 in the last couple of weeks of June, most of which went to the campaign’s consulting firm, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
Black, the Duval County Republican Party Chairman, is running for the GOP nomination in House District 15. He had $200,788 in the bank as of the beginning of July. He has a significant fundraising lead over military veteran and retirement planner Emily Nunez, who was a couple hundred short of $30,000.
HCA entities gave Black a combined $3,000, joined by fellow thousand-dollar contributors Hanania Automotive Management, Sunshine State Conservatives, and Jacksonville resident Harriet Vazquez.
Jacksonville City Council President Terrance Freeman gave Black $100, while Jax entrepreneur John Falconetti gave $500.
Black’s most significant expenditure over that period — a little more than $6,000 — went to Jacksonville consulting firm On Target Messaging.
While Black’s locked up about every major Nassau County endorsement, Nunez is the Nassau County resident in the race. HD 15 covers all of Nassau and parts of northern and western Duval.
Nunez drew $2,100 at the end of June, spending less than $100. Her largest contribution was $300 from a Callahan resident — of her 23 contributions, all were relatively small-dollar, and 13 of those came from Nassau County. The latest report shows all of Black’s contributions came from either Jacksonville or Tallahassee.
Nunez’s contributions included $250 from Jacksonville Beach attorney Heath Brockwell, who looked at running for the Nassau County seat in the House when then-Rep. Cord Byrd announced his intentions to run for state Senate.
There’s been quite a lot of water under the bridge since — Byrd is now the Secretary of State and the Beaches have been drawn into a new district where Brockwell chose not to run.
