Jacob Ogles
Republicans may have a supermajority in the House. But it’s a Democratic member who has raised the most money for a re-election campaign.
Rep. Allison Tant, a Tallahassee Democrat, has reported nearly $525,000 in donations to her official campaign account through Sept. 6. That makes her the first House candidate to surpass the half-million mark in donations to her campaign.
She got a significant bump in the two-week period from Aug. 24 to Sept. 6, when the House District 9 incumbent raised nearly $102,000.
She has also spent more than any Democrat running for a House seat, nearly $262,000. That leaves the two-term incumbent with almost $263,000 in her campaign account as of the end of the reporting period.
In comparison, Republican challenger Spencer Brass has collected less than $46,000, and closed the period with less than $26,000 still in the bank. More than half of his cash haul comes from a $25,000 check courtesy of the Florida House Republican Campaign Committee.
But he also has seen plenty of in-kind support from the state party. The Republican Party of Florida has provided nearly $44,000 in polling research and staff.
Tant, a former Florida Democratic Party Chair, has seen plenty of party support herself. The Florida House Democratic Campaign Committee (FHDCC) has provided about $45,000 worth of consulting, research and polling to her campaign. The Florida Democratic Party gave about $9,000 worth of staff support as well.
The People First Leadership PC, which is associated with Tant, formed in July after the state revoked Tant’s prior, similarly named People First Leadership Political Committee over fines. All of the old committee’s funds were transferred to the new entity.
The new committee has given $150,000 to the FHDCC, but still has about $223,000 in its coffers available to help Tant.
Friends of Spencer Brass was also formed in June, after the Republican entered the race against Tant. That committee has raised $100,000, more than double the haul for Brass’ campaign. All of it comes from two $50,000 donations, one from Spring Hill IT professional Mark Twaalfhoven and the other from North Miami Beach Realtor Jaime Ortiz.
That money remains largely unused. The PC closed the last period with more than $97,000 available.
Tant in 2022 won re-election unopposed after a filed Republican opponent dropped out over qualification issues. That year, a slim majority of voters in the district supported Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ re-election, though Democrat Val Demings outperformed GOP U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in the district.
Tant won her seat in 2020 with almost 58% of the vote over Republican Jim Kallinger under slightly different lines. But more than 54% of voters under the existing HD 9 lines supported Democrat Joe Biden for President that year.
