Anne Geggis
Fundraising ruled Tuesday as a three-way contest among Democrats went to Hillary Cassel, a lawyer who raised the most money among a trio competing to get the Democratic nomination to represent House District 101.
Her closest opponent, Todd Delmay, one of the early plaintiffs pressing the state to allow same-sex marriages, won 34% of the vote. That’s compared to Cassel’s 40%, with all the precincts in. A third Democratic candidate, Clay Miller, trailed third with 25% of the vote.
The seat — which covers parts of Dania Beach, Hallandale Beach, Davie and Hollywood — came open because Rep. Evan Jenne is term-limited.
Cassel will meet the Republican who has filed for the seat, Guy Silla for November’s election. But the Democratic Primary winner is heavily favored to win the seat. President Joe Biden won in this district by 14 percentage points, according to election data analyst Matt Isbell, of MCI Maps.
To that end, Cassel, also co-founder of the Hollywood law firm Cassel & Cassel, raised the most money among the three, with lawyers accounting for her biggest set of donors. Between her personal account and her political committee, Friends of Hillary Cassel, she’s raised a total of $459,033 from donors and loaned her campaign $65,000.
Cassel raised more than three times the money of her closest rival in the money race, Delmay.
Delmay, a travel agent who raised a total of $142,874 from donors and loaned his campaign $2,022, reaped the most in earned media out of any other candidate in the race when the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him for the post.
The paper had high praise for all three in this race, however, saying, “the options for voters reflect the impressive depth of talent among local Democrats.” But Delmay won the endorsement for his distillation of Tallahassee’s troubles: “It doesn’t feel like the Legislature cares.”
Miller raised a total of $93,005 from donors. And he loaned his campaign $5,000.
