Jacob Ogles
Rep. Paula Stark holds a cash advantage over Democrat Maria Revelles as Stark seeks re-election. But the challenger has enjoyed far more party support than the Republican incumbent in House District 47.
Through Oct. 4, Stark has raised upward of $64,000. She has spent more than half of that, and closed the period with less than $34,000 in her campaign account to defend her battleground seat.
Revelles, who narrowly won a three-person Democratic Primary in August, has raised north of $45,000. She had just over $16,000 in the bank at the close of the last reporting period.
But the Friends of Maria Revelles political committee, which faces no caps on donations, has been more active. The political committee raised nearly $74,000, and has stepped up spending since the Primary. It closed the period with almost $11,000 in the bank.
Friends of Paula, the PC supporting Stark, has raised nearly $91,000. But donations to the committee largely stopped after Florida Politics reported in July that the committee had spent exorbitantly on dinners and “entertainment” for the candidate.
The committee since then only received one donation, a $10,000 check from Orlando law firm Melton Newsome. Its cash account has dwindled to less than $7,300, bolstered primarily by more than $5,200 in loans from 20/20 Media Holdings. That’s a company connected to committee Chair Joel Davis, Stark’s partner.
Ultimately, Stark entered the last month of the campaign controlling nearly $38,000 in cash on hand, while Revelles held less than $30,000.
But Revelles received substantially more assistance from her state party than Stark has from her own.
The Republican Party of Florida provided $6,000 worth of in-kind research to Stark. That may be informing Google ads accusing Revelles of evading taxes; those ads have no citation and link to Stark’s campaign homepage.
But controversy with Stark’s use of her office funds with the House, which suspended her expense account, according to the Orlando Sentinel, and criticism of the PC expenditures appears to be translating into weak party support compared to other threatened incumbents.
Revelles, meanwhile, has seen massive support from the state party, especially since winning her Primary.
The Florida Democratic Party has provided Revelles with more than $12,000 worth of staff salaries and benefits in-kind, while the Florida House Democratic Campaign Committee has helped the challenger’s campaign to the tune of almost $98,000 in the form of field consulting, research, polling and official photography.
