Adam Hattersley gets public funding boost in CFO bid, but Jimmy Patronis still leads money chase

Adam Hattersley received $126,837 last week from public funds for his Chief Financial Officer campaign, an amount that nearly doubled his full campaign haul, which now stands at $264,334.

He has used $30,000 on digital ads and fundraising emails and as of Sept. 16, he has $83,925 on hand. That means he still trails incumbent CFO Jimmy Patronis, who has nearly $1.1 million available, or a more than 13-to-1 advantage on Hattersley with seven weeks to go in the race.

And that’s just counting funds in their respective campaign accounts. Patronis has a political committee he controls, Treasure Florida, with more than $3.6 million in it as of Sept. 9, according to state campaign finance records.

State law provides candidates for statewide office to enroll in a matching funds program, with the state providing public money for every dollar raised, with a $100,000 threshold required for candidates to raise themselves before the funds are allotted. Patronis has received $188,494 in public matching funds so far.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has received the most public funds this campaign cycle, more than $5.5 million, while his opponent, Democrat Charlie Crist, has received $1.9 million from the state.

Hattersley is a Tampa Democrat who won a state House seat in 2018 before mounting a failed bid for the U.S. House in 2020. Patronis, a former GOP state House member, was appointed to the CFO position in 2017 by then-Gov. Rick Scott and later won the seat in 2018, defeating former Democratic state Sen. Jeremy Ring of Margate.

Patronis has already spent $283,000 from his campaign account alone, about $19,000 more than Hattersley has raised in total. Neither Patronis nor Hattersley faced a Primary challenge. The latest spend from Patronis came on TV ads bashing Big Tech companies.

The CFO seat is a Cabinet position and oversees the state’s transactions, as well as the Department of Financial Services, which has oversight of the Office of Financial Regulation and the Office of Insurance Regulation.