TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In a fundraising quarter in which incumbents were hampered by a prohibition on raising money during a legislative session, several newcomers turned in big Senate fundraising numbers.
The top three cash raisers in Senate races, all of whom pulled in more than $50,000, would all be new in the chamber – two of them new to the Legislature. The biggest haul in the three months that ended March 31 was made by former House member Kevin Rader, now running for a Palm Beach County Senate seat. Rader raised $72,205 during the quarter, his first raising money for the race.
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Rader, lives in Delray Beach. His current address would put him in District 25, where he would face another Democrat, sitting Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach. Rader has been critical of Sachs for not being a strong enough Democrat.
Two opponents for District 7 - a race with no incumbent – were the second and third biggest fundraisers. Republican Rob Bradley brought in $68,401, while Democrat Brian Scarborough raised $55,265 in the quarter.
Bradley, a former Clay County commissioner, from Fleming Island, and Scarborough, an insurance company owner from Gainesville, are in a race to win a seat that includes Gainesville and Clay and Bradford counties. The sitting senator who lives in the area, Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Cross Creek, is running for Congress, and Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat.
There are some incumbents among the top fundraisers for the quarter, despite being hamstrung by a ban on raising money in January and February. Sens. Joe Negron, Don Gaetz, Lizbeth Benacquisto, and John Thrasher, all Republicans, all raised more than $25,000 during the period. Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, just missed that mark, raising $24,700 during the quarter.
Most of the top money raisers were Republicans, but in addition to Scarborough and Rader, Democrat Frank Bruno brought in just over $30,000 in his bid for a Volusia County-based seat.
The list of the top 12 fundraisers for the quarter, with how much they raised in the period, and their total haul to date:
- Rader, Kevin, Democrat, quarter: $72,205; total: $72,205
- Bradley, Rob, Republican, $68,401; $68,401
- Scarborough, Brian , Democrat, $55,265; $55,265
- Negron, Joe Republican, $42,800; $473,300
- Gaetz, Don, Republican, $42,750; $472,260
- Bruno, Frank, Democrat, $30,465; $176,668
- Galvano, Bill, Republican, $30,035; $378,139
- Simpson, Wilton, Republican, $29,325; $220,325
- Benacquisto, Lizbeth, Republican, $28,860; $512,844
- Myers, Jack, Republican, $26,990; $127,110
- Thrasher, John, Republican, $26,650; $428,315
- Duggan, Wyman Russo, Republican, $25,785; $25,785