Anne Geggis
Democrat Andy Thomson has nearly a quarter of a million-dollar cash-on-hand advantage over his Republican rival Peggy Gossett-Seidman as the two vie to represent south Palm Beach County in the House.
The new map that came out of redistricting turned House District 91 from one that supported President Joe Biden by 59% into one with a much lighter shade of blue. Now, Biden would have had 52% of the voters in the district, which includes Boca Raton, Highland Beach and parts of West Boca, according to election data analyst Matt Isbell of MCI Maps.
The Republican Party of Florida is investing in flipping the seat. The party gave Gossett-Seidman, a Highland Beach Town Commissioner, in-kind staff support last month, but it’s no match for Thomson’s support.
Between his campaign and his political committee, Running With Andy Thomson, the Boca Raton City Councilman received $27,475 from Aug. 1 to Aug. 26, the latest reporting deadline. That compares to the $2,000 that Gossett-Seidman received in cold, hard cash and $4,500 she received in staff support from the Republican Party of Florida.
Going into the General Election session, Thomson holds $297,833 overall to Gossett-Seidman’s $74,675.
Thomson is getting support from Democratic Party bigwigs and marquee names. He received $2,500 from Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo’s political committee, New Opportunity Florida, and $1,000 from Americans For Progress, Sen. Tina Polsky’s political committee. And he also received $500 from Christine E. Lynn, a philanthropist who’s donated extensively to local causes and whose name is on various units at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and Florida Atlantic University’s College of Nursing.
Also, lawyers and law firms stepped up to give Thomson $9,850 in this period. He also received $5,000 from real estate political committees. And another $4,000 came from four Tallahassee-based political committees with the word “justice” in their names, each giving his account $1,000 each: Florida Justice PAC, Central Florida Citizens for Justice, South Florida Citizens for Justice, North Florida Citizens for Justice.
As for spending, Thomson has mostly held his fire in disbursements during the last reporting period, spending $1,340 in August.
Gossett-Seidman has been on less of a spending spree since she shelled out $96,127 for her Tampa-based political consultant SimWins before the Aug. 23 Primary. Reports show she’s put down just $4,726 since then.
Reporting contributions from Aug. 1 to Aug. 26, reports show she’s brought in $2,000 from the Florida Action Committee for Rural Electrification, a Tallahassee-based committee that gives to Republican candidates, and Florida CPA Political Action Committee, also based in Tallahassee.
The campaigns were facing a deadline Friday for reporting all financial activity through Aug. 26.
