Jimmy Patronis enjoys massive cash advantage in CD 1 Special Election

Now that he’s running for Congress, the knives are out for Jimmy Patronis.

As the Republican Primary in a Panhandle Special Election nears, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis holds a massive cash advantage.

The latest financial reports in Florida’s 1st Congressional District show Patronis with almost $711,000 in cash on hand as of Jan. 8. That’s most of the more than $972,000 raised by the Donald Trump-endorsed Cabinet member, who announced in November he was running to succeed former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Former Escambia County Commissioner Gene Valentino, host of the Grassroots Truthcast podcast, also raised a substantial amount of resources, reporting nearly $425,000 in total collections. But he closed the last fundraising period with less than $29,000 still in the bank.

That means as of early January, Valentino had spent more than $130,000 more than Patronis. But in the final stretch heading into the Jan. 28 Republican Primary, Patronis had a 24-to-1 cash advantage.

The only other candidate to have raised six figures for the race was former state Rep. Joel Rudman, a Navarre Republican. He reported upward of $112,000 for his campaign for the open seat. He closed the period with more than $14,000 in the bank.

Those candidates are among 10 Republicans to qualify for the race.

Michael Dylan Thompson, a Generation Z candidate, reported almost $39,000 raised with about $16,000 left in cash for the final stretch.

Aaron Dimmock, who challenged Gaetz in last year’s Republican Primary, raised just over $33,000. But thanks to his run against Gaetz he had money in his account before the election was called. Even after spending more than $83,000 this election cycle, he still had more than $33,000 at the end of the period.

High school teacher Jeff Peacock reported more than $19,000 in fundraising, with almost $8,600 left to spend.

John Mills, who opened a campaign account last election cycle and raised almost $18,000 last year, only raised about $200 this cycle. But he has spent much of what he had and closed the last period with about $1,100 in the bank.

Greg Merk has an account open, but no fundraising reported. Meanwhile, Kevin Gaffney and Jeff Macey haven’t filed anything with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The winner of the Republican Primary will advance to face Democrat Gay Valimont and no-party candidate Stephen Broden.

Valimont, Gaetz’s General Election opponent in November, has actually raised more money than most of the Republicans running. She reported almost $104,000 in fundraising and has already spent a good bit of that campaigning. She closed the period with almost $40,000 in cash on hand.

Broden hasn’t reported anything with the FEC, nor have any of the four write-in candidates running.