Jacob Ogles
Lee County Republican David Mulicka has raised $80,500 in the first nine days of his campaign for County Commission.
“I’m very pleased with the outpouring of support from friends, community leaders and businesspeople,” he said. “Everybody has been extremely supportive.”
Mulicka filed in June for the District 3 seat being vacated by Lee County Commissioner Ray Sandelli, who was first appointed in 2019. Republican Brian Farrar, Mulicka’s only declared opponent to date, also declared in June and raised $69,300 by comparison.
Sandelli has notably endorsed Mulicka as his desired successor in the post. Mulicka has plenty of other allies in the local political world as well.
He’s married to Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, Chair of the Lee County legislative delegation. Sheriff Carmine Marceno and State Attorney Amira Fox have already endorsed him, and a host committee for a July 26 fundraiser includes sitting County Commissioners Brian Hamman, Cecil Pendergrass and Kevin Ruane.
A look at 101 donations to Mulicka’s campaign shows support locally and from around the state. Donors who gave the maximum $1,000 include former Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, Honc Industries founder Daniel Honc and Rist Family Foundation founder Brian Rist. Political committees connected to state lawmakers around Florida, including Sen. Ben Albritton and Reps. Spencer Roach and John Snyder, also donated.
Mulicka is president of Honc Destruction and Honc Recycling, so he’s well connected in the contracting world. He believes that will be an asset on the Commission as the community rebuilds in the wake of Hurricane Ian, which made landfall in Lee County in September.
“My skill set and experience will lend itself for hurricane rebuilding and recovery in our area, which really was devastated and needs to be rebuilt from scratch: infrastructure, roadways and utilities, transportation systems,” he said. “I feel like I’m an experienced voice in working with staff and with state, federal and local decisions.”
He’s also deeply conscious of growth patterns in the growing county and wants local planning to become more forward-looking.
“So many times in history, we have waited till the last minute to build something that was already too small, and then we rebuild it during tourist season and make it worse,” he said.
While Lee County faces a period of difficult rebuilding, there’s also the opportunity to better lay out long-term plans and an enormous amount of resources coming to the region. He’s heard estimates as high as $5 billion for outside relief dollars coming to the county.
“That sounds like a good opportunity to me,” he said.
