Palm Beach animal advocate raises $92K in first month running for Rick Roth’s seat

Republican Megan Weinberger is running for House District 94 to succeed term-limited Rick Roth.

Two top contenders have emerged in the five-way Republican Primary money race to succeed Republican Rep. Rick Roth in representing an inland swath of Palm Beach County.

Megan Weinberger, who runs an animal sanctuary and serves on numerous community nonprofit boards, raised more than $92,300 in her first month of campaigning for the job representing House District 94.

Her personal campaign account received more than $74,000 in donations, and her political committee, Friends of Megan Weinberger, collected $18,300. Her biggest donation — $10,000 — came from Raymond Lee Jewelers in Boca Raton. The most famous name on her list of donors is U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who contributed $100 to her campaign.

The Palm Beach Gardens resident vaulted past the previous front-runner in the money race, businessman Anthony Aguirre.

People and businesses in the medical field formed the largest sector of Weinberger’s support through her personal campaign, accounting for $23,000 of her donations. Her personal campaign account received the maximum $1,000 donation from 10 physicians and one physician assistant, four imaging centers, two health care clinics and three nurses.

Aguirre has so far raised a total of $60,325 since he announced his candidacy in March. He raised $20,325 of that in May.

Like Weinberger, the largest proportion of Aguirre’s donations last month came from medical interests. Nearly $6,000 worth of donations came from that sector in May.

Agricultural interests made an appearance on Aguirre’s list of donors. Sugar Farms in Loxahatchee and agriculture exporters, Americas Export Corp., both gave $1,000. Aguirre also drew support from lobbyists in May. Natalie Fausel, a Tallahassee lobbyist, gave him $1,000, as did the Jacksonville office of The Fiorentino Group, a government relations firm.

The district extends along the western side of Palm Beach County also stretching between Broward County and Martin County. It had been a toss-up district, but the latest election data shows that it’s become solidly Republican.

The two other competitors who filed campaign reports for May in the district are much further behind in the money race.

Jon Carter, a staffer for the term-limited Roth, raised $705 in May, bringing his total raised to $11,260, not counting the $15,000 he’s loaned his campaign.

Business consultant Gabrielle Fox raised $20.24 in May, bringing the total raised for her campaign to $4,250.

Christian Acosta, a former congressional candidate who teaches at Palm Beach State College, entered the race this month, so his first financial report will come in next month.

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Megan Weinberger’s occupation was updated to reflect a change in campaign filing.