Anne Gerwig bets $60K on moving from Wellington Mayor’s seat to Tallahassee

As Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig competes for a promotion to represent Palm Beach County in the House, she added more than $80,000 to her campaign in its first 25 days — $60,000 of it coming from her own pocket.

Gerwig became the third Republican to get into the Primary fight last month, vying to represent House District 93. She is up against a real estate developer and a mortgage company Vice President for the right to face incumbent Democratic Rep. Katherine Waldron in the November 2024 General Election.

Real estate developer Brandon Cabrera is second to Gerwig in the overall money race in this contest, but Waldron raised more money in June. Meanwhile, Chris Mitchell, whose LinkedIn profile shows he’s a vice president and Norcom Mortgage branch manager, is a distant fourth in the money chase.

The district covers Wellington, portions of Greenacres and western parts of Boynton Beach. Waldron won her seat in 2022 against a Republican contender, but MCI Maps’ elections data from Matt Isbell shows that voters in the district supported Gov. Ron DeSantis by nearly 4 percentage points.

Gerwig, who has served on the Wellington Village Council since 2010, is not treating the $60,021.88 she added to her campaign as a loan, campaign records show.

Giving the maximum $1,000 donation to Gerwig’s campaign in June were Michael Smith, a lawyer; Elizabeth Smith, a retired teacher; Fred Fishback, a Wellington business consultant; Scott Swederlin, a Wellington veterinarian; Sports Horse Investments, a Wellington training business; Edward Casas, an Evanston, Illinois, financial advisor; Wellington Mall, a shopping center; JDM of the Palm Beaches; and Daniel Chase Development Inc.

In second place in the money race, Cabrera has raised a total of $28,850, with $4,100 of it collected in June for his first bid for public office. Cabrera loaned his campaign $25,000. With a total of $8,000 in spending for this cycle, Cabrera now has $45,835 to spend for his campaign.

In June, Cabrera drew the maximum donations from Miguel Estrada of Palm Springs, who’s in construction; German Torres, a Lake Worth department manager; and Frank Hernandez, a West Palm Beach carpenter.

June represents a slowdown from Cabrera’s best monthly haul in April, when he collected $23,150 from donors.

The incumbent in the race, however, appears to be ramping up her fundraising after the Legislative Session, when sitting lawmakers are forbidden to solicit donations. Waldron raised $5,400 in June, her best fundraising month this cycle. She has raised a total of $13,100 this election cycle and spent $9,150, leaving her $3,950 to spend on her re-election bid.

Fourth in the money race, Mitchell has raised a total of $2,075 in his bid to represent HD 93.