Jacob Ogles
The last two weeks saw massive spending by political committees on an open Senate District 25 campaign. That included more than $117,000 by the newly formed Friends of Alan Grayson.
That group was formally launched on July 16, and supports former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson’s bid for the legislative office. But the group spent little before Aug. 5, meaning all but $88 of expenditures by the committee went unreported until days before an Aug. 20 Democratic Primary.
Most of the spending went toward media production and buys by Iowa-based Main Street Communications. That group notably did no work for Grayson’s official campaign, which spent more than $180,000 through Aug. 15.
Grayson’s official campaign relied on candidate self-financing, with less than $234 ever reported in outside contributions and the rest coming from a loan.
But Friends of Alan Grayson saw some large contributions, including $20,000 from RCG of North Carolina, a medical supply company, and $15,000 from Merrill Mission Support, an aerospace business. The committee also reported $10,000 checks from Howard Jonas, the founder of IDT Corp. and Genie Energy, and Lani Hay, founder of Lanmark Technology.
Meanwhile, other candidates also had supportive committees report an uptick in spending.
Friends of Arringtons, a committee associated with state Rep. Kristen Arrington’s Senate campaign, spent more than $86,000 between Aug. 3 and Aug. 15. That’s a significant chunk of the $386,000 spent by that committee over the course of the entire race. The bulk of new spending went to Virginia-based Deliver Strategies for direct mail, with another $15,000 going to Screen Strategies Media for media placements.
The spending was fueled in part by $72,000 in fresh donations in the last reporting period, with $25,000 of that coming from The People Over Politics Florida social welfare organization.
Arrington’s own campaign, meanwhile, spent another $15,000 in the final weeks of the campaign, bringing total spending to nearly $202,000.
Latino Rising, a committee supporting community leader Carmen Torres’ candidacy, spent nearly $68,000 in the last two weeks leading into the Primary. That accounts for almost half of the total $115,000 spent by the committee over the course of the race.
It was fueled by some $22,500 in new donations in that time. Nearly half of that came from a $10,000 donation from Richard Jones’ 78 Political Committee, which also gave to Broward and Orange County Democratic Party operations.
The committee spending is on top of about $10,000 in spending by Torres’ official account in the last reporting period. The campaign spent more than $65,000 since Torres filed in January 2023.
