A.G. Gancarski
Orange Park Republican Rep. Sam Garrison is running in the new House District 11 after redistricting and has a strong cash edge over his Democratic opponent.
If recent campaign finance activity in his political committee is any indication, Garrison will be raising and spending prodigiously down the stretch.
During the week ending Sept. 2, Garrison raised $92,200 to his Honest Leadership account. Supermarket chain Publix donated $50,000 on Aug. 30, which was the company’s first donation to the Garrison committee.
Other major donors included the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which donated $10,000.
Independent Living Systems donated $7,500. According to its website, the organization “offers a comprehensive range of turnkey payer services including clinical and third-party administrative services to managed care organizations and providers that serve high-cost, complex member populations in the Medicare, Medicaid and Dual-Eligible Market.”
Honest Leadership had nearly $575,000 on hand as of Sept. 2, despite some significant spending in the days leading up to that date. The biggest spend of all was a Sept. 1 contribution of $300,000 to the Florida Right Direction political committee.
That was one of two $300,000 contributions that committee got in recent days, with the other coming from the Living Life with Purpose political committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Leek. Expect Florida Right Direction to play a role down the stretch in 2022.
Garrison also has more than $114,000 in his campaign account, with $2,000 raised in the most recent week of fundraising. He has nearly $700,000 on hand between the two accounts.
Orange Park Democrat Cornelius Jones faced no Primary opponent over the summer, but did not use that time to match Garrison’s war chest. He has reported fundraising through Aug. 26, and had nearly $7,500 on hand as of that date.
Republicans hold a prohibitive registration advantage in the northern Clay County district, one whose previous iteration as HD 18 saw little in the way of any effective General Election challenge to GOP candidates. It appears that trend will hold in 2022 as well.
Garrison, who is on track to be Speaker in 2026, represented HD 18 from 2020 through this year. He won the General Election with more than 67% of the vote, succeeding former Rep. Travis Cummings, who was himself a powerful legislator.
