Jacob Ogles
Republican Mike Levine has outspent opponents in the race to succeed Republican state Rep. Keith Truenow in the House. But he’s funding his race mostly out of pocket.
The former Lake County Republican Party Chair through July 26 spent more than $124,000 in the House District 26 race. But he’s collected less than $23,000 in outside contributions while primarily dipping into a $150,000 candidate loan.
Levine faces former Eustis City Commissioner Nan Cobb, conservative activist Keith Farner and Lake County Realtor Addie Owens in an Aug. 20 Republican Primary. Truenow is running for Florida Senate instead of seeking another term.
Cobb through the last reporting period spent the second most, almost $90,000. But she’s relied chiefly on outside contributions, raising more than $95,000 on donations and tossing an additional $25,000 loan.
Owens boasts the backing of the Florida Realtors PAC. She has spent nearly $53,000 after raising just over $53,000 and tossing in another $22,000 loan that hasn’t been touched to date.
Farner has almost completely self-funded his campaign, putting down $10,000 out of pocket to launch his campaign in June, but spending less than $1,800 though his last reported expenditures.
While Levine chiefly has used his own money, his donations include $1,000 from the Liberty Catalyst Fund PC, run by Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida Chair Bob White. He also accepted a $1,000 donation from Fruitland Park-based Riggs Water Solutions.
Cobb reported the most in donations to her campaign. Some of that has come from Tallahassee, with two $1,000 donations associated with the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law political committee
She has relied heavily on maximum donations from local businesses. Her support notably includes $1,000 from Lake Jem Farms, a business Truenow founded, for example. More recent support includes $1,000 checks from SB Leesburg and SB Groveland, two real estate companies associated with Anna and Derek Schroth.
She also collected $1,000 from Lake County Conservatives, a political committee chaired by state Rep. Taylor Yarkosky. She also accepted a check last year from Tax Collector David Jordan, though that was given months before a qualifying scandal with Jordan’s brother put the constitutional officer in poor standing with the local Republican Party.
Owens has seen some of the most significant support from Tallahassee. She has reported $1,000 donations from the Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Home Builders PAC and three committees associated with Florida Realtors.
She also has some important local supporters, including The Villages development company, which donated $1,000, and Ro-Mac Lumber, a major construction supplier in Leesburg. T. Scott Roofing in Tavares also gave her $1,000, as did Flamingo Real Estate in Oxford and Electron Machine Corporation in Umatilla.
The winner of the Aug. 20 Republican Primary will advance to face Mount Dora Democrat Jackie Arndt in the General Election. Arndt has raised more than $4,500 and faces no Primary challenge.
But the district leans heavily Republican, with more than 66% of voters there supporting U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ in 2022, and nearly 62% of voters in 2020 supporting Donald Trump for President.
