Scott Powers
Anticipating a marquee battle this fall, the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) and the Florida Democratic Party (FDP) are flooding the campaigns of Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur and Democratic Rep. Joy Goff-Marcil with support.
Brodeur’s campaign picked up $35,037 in in-kind staff, consulting, advertising and polling from the RPOF in late June. Goff-Marcil’s campaign was aided by $44,064 in staff and consulting from the FDP.
In both cases, the party campaign support far exceeded what the campaigns were able to draw in direct financial contributions during the two-week campaign finance reporting period that ended July 1.
Brodeur and Goff-Marcil are set to battle this fall in Senate District 10, covering Seminole County and part of northern Orange County. Brodeur first must get through a Republican Primary. He has a token opponent, Denail Charres, who donated enough of her own money to cover her qualifying fee last month to force a Primary Election, but has shown no other campaign finance activity.
The $200,000 in support the parties now have invested in the SD 10 race is by far the most for any contest for the Senate or House this year.
Goff-Marcil, of Maitland, also collected a $25,000 check into her independent political committee Joy for Florida in late June, from the political committee New Opportunity Florida, chaired by Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo, who got re-elected last month when no opposition emerged by the qualifying deadline.
The RPOF and other Republican committees have donated more than $109,000 worth of support to Brodeur’s campaign, the second-most of any Republican candidate for the Legislature. The FDP now has donated more than $91,000 worth of support for Goff-Marcil, the second-most of any Democratic candidate.
The newly drawn SD 10 is the only race in the state where both parties’ major candidates have gotten that kind of party support.
Republicans have controlled the Seminole County-based Senate district, under various numbers and mapped into various configurations, for generations. Yet results of the last two elections suggest the district should have a Democratic lean.
The only Republican Legislature candidate who has received more party help than Brodeur during the current election cycle is Sen. Ileana Garcia in Senate District 36. Yet her Democratic opponent, Raquel Pacheco, has gotten little help so far from the Democrats.
Likewise, the only Democratic Legislative candidate who has received more party help than Goff-Marcil is Sen. Janet Cruz in Senate District 14. And her Republican opponent, Jay Collins, has received comparatively little support from the Republicans.
Brodeur hasn’t necessarily needed the help, except for the prospect that Goff-Marcil presents a formidable challenge in a district Republicans no longer can take for granted.
He has always been a robust fundraiser. In the latest report, he picked up $10,370 in the latest reporting period, after collecting $53,061 in the first half of June. His campaign now has raised $281,885 for this election.
Yet Brodeur also has been spending, steadily, on direct mail, advertising, and consulting, especially from his campaign fund, throughout the cycle. His campaign entered July with about $105,000 in the bank.
He’s also raised another $435,000 for his political committee Citizens for Solutions, and $72,000 for his second political committee, the Freedom and Liberty Fund. Neither spent much in late June.
Goff-Marcil, on the other hand, always has been a modest campaign fundraiser. That has continued thus far in this election cycle. She collected $6,745 in late June, bringing her total raised to just $45,729 for the cycle. Her campaign has not spent much on anything yet, and entered July with about $38,000 in the bank.
The check from Pizzo’s committee nearly doubled her collections in Joy for Florida, which now has raised about $49,000.
