Speaker-designate Paul Renner carries more than $3M into stretch run

Palm Coast Republican Paul Renner is poised to become Speaker in November if he wins his General Election and it appears fundraising will not be an impediment.

Renner, running for election in the new House District 19, raised $192,000 for his two political committees in the week ending Sept. 2, the latest in a series of strong fundraising hauls that will make his campaign finance worth watching despite his not being in a competitive General Election.

A full $190,000 of the late-August fundraising went to Renner’s Conservatives for Principled Leadership political committee, which now has more than $2.8 million on hand.

American Integrity Insurance, which specializes in property policies, donated $75,000, as did Publix. Veriheal, a company specializing in brokering medical marijuana consultations, donated $15,000.

The Conservatives for Principled Leadership committee has been spending big recently. The week ending Aug. 26 saw the committee move $300,000 checks into two political committees: Central Florida Solutions and South Florida Solutions.

Most of that money is still in these committees, waiting to be allocated.

The JAX First political committee, associated with Jacksonville mayoral candidate LeAnna Gutierrez Cumber, also secured a $20,000 contribution from South Florida Solutions in August.

Renner’s other political committee, Florida Foundation for Liberty, has roughly $218,000 on hand, with nothing raised in the last week for which we have records.

Renner’s campaign account also has more than $113,000 on hand, though records on file as of this writing only extend through Aug. 26. Nonetheless, it’s clear he has an advantage over a Democratic opponent he’s running against for the fifth time in the last decade.

Adam Morley, who has lost elections to Renner in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2020, will be back on the ballot again this year. The Democrat from St. Augustine has around $600 cash on hand, and is largely self-funding this cycle.