Nearly $1M already spent on HD 81 race, mostly by Greg Folley

Greg Folley, via Folley campaign.

Nearly $1 million has already been spent in an open House District 81 election, most of that by Republican Greg Folley.

The Marco Island City Councilman’s campaign has spent more than $484,000 from its official account, through an Aug. 2 reporting deadline. On top of that, the Friends of Greg Folley political committee burned through another $375,000 through the same date.

Much of the spending comes out-of-pocket for Folley, a retired Caterpillar executive. He campaign has reported nearly $426,000 in candidate loans and raised more than $143,000 on top of that. In total, the campaign has reported more than $469,000 in cash contributions and closed the fundraising period with more than $85,000 in the bank.

Folley also delivered a $100,000 candidate loan to his committee, roughly a quarter of more than $408,00 total dollars raised by the Friends group. The committee wrapped its last period with more than $33,000 still available to spend.

The combined $118,000 in cash on hand rivals the total that Republican Primary opponent Yvette Benarroch has raised over the course of the race, not that the Moms for Liberty chapter leader has slouched on call time.

His official campaign account reported more than $115,000 in total contributions through July 26; her latest campaign report is not yet available, and she’s put in another $77,000 candidate loan on top of that. Meanwhile, Friends of Yvette Benarroch has collected another $35,000, and spent less than $4,000 of it.

Her campaign, on the other hand, has gone through $130,000 in spending, through its last report.

Benarroch and Folley face one another in a Republican Primary on Aug. 20. The winner will face Democrat Chuck Work, a former member of Republican Ronald Reagan’s administration, in a November election. Work to date has raised more than $16,000 but spent less than $4,000, and faces no Democratic Primary challenger.

But the Republican Primary will likely determine who succeeds state Rep. Bob Rommel, a Naples Republican, in this deep red district. Rommel won re-election unopposed in 2022, when more than 70% of voters supported Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ re-election efforts. More than 62% of voters in the district supported Donald Trump for President over Joe Biden in 2020.

So where is the money in the race going?

Just in July, Folley’s campaign spent almost $127,000 with Front Line Strategies on media buys and advertising in July alone. Friends of Greg Folley spent even more with the Tallahassee agency, around $265,000 in total, dedicating a portion specifically to direct mail.

Benarroch, meanwhile, put more than $55,000 from her official account toward advertising through Right Aim Media, along with another $20,000 in advertising spending through Virginia-based Smart Media Group.

Her committee’s expenditures have principally gone to consulting services with Electioneering Consulting.