Jacob Ogles
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis has raised over $2.1 million ahead of an April 1 Special Election for Congress. The Panama City Republican wrapped the fundraising period with almost $815,000 in cash on hand.
Notably, Democrat Gay Valimont indicated to the press that she has raised considerably more, telling The Pensacola News-Journal last week that she collected upward of $6.7 million in donations. However, she has yet to file a fundraising report with the Federal Election Commission, so it’s unclear how much money she still has to spend ahead of the April 1 General Election.
Meanwhile, Patronis only spent about half of his total fundraising before the fundraising period ended on March 12. He raised more than $1.1 million since the start of the period on Jan. 9.
“The more voters learn about our opponent, the more they will vote for Jimmy Patronis,” said Melissa Stone, political consultant for Patronis. “She hates President Trump and she is raising lots of national money on that hate. Democrat consultants have decided this special election is the only way they are going to get paid this year, so they are making the most of it on the heels of a crushing national defeat.
“Jimmy Patronis was born and raised in the Panhandle and he will never stop fighting for Northwest Florida. He is laser focused on turning out the vote because early voting starts Saturday.”
That suggests he still had a lot of money saved even after winning a 10-candidate Republican Primary on Jan. 28. Patronis was buoyed largely by President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Voter registrations in Florida’s 1st Congressional District, statistically Florida’s most Republican-leaning House district, suggest Patronis should be the frontrunner heading into the April 1 Special Election. When voter rolls closed ahead of the vote, around 312,000 Republicans were registered and eligible to participate in the election, compared to fewer than 119,000 Democrats and about 136,000 other voters.
But Valimont has seen outside commitments to support her race as national Democrats hope to turn the contest and another in Northeast Florida into a barometer on outrage over Trump’s return to the White House.
The Democratic National Committee and Florida Democratic Party announced a significant investment and coordinated campaign to turn out voters for both elections.
The election winner will succeed former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who resigned after Trump nominated him for Attorney General but withdrew from consideration before taking a hosting job at One America News Network.
Correction: A previous headline only included individual contributions and misstated total contributions.
