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

Adam Hattersley
Patronis still leads Hattersley in campaign funds left in their accounts 13-to-1.

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.

Gray Rohrer



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