St. Pete City Council chair Charlie Gerdes hasn’t quite caught up to his opponent in a fundraising race for the District 1 race, but he’s cut her lead to less than $1,000.
The biggest difference is, $11,000 of Monica Abbott’s $12,425 in campaign funds came from her own pocket. Gerdes has raised just shy of $12,000 through multiple donations from local and state committees.
Gerdes is on track to far out-raise Abbott if the most recent campaign finance reports serve as any indication.
Gerdes raised more than $7,000 between September 14 and October 4. Abbott? She brought in zero.
And when it comes to cash on hand, Gerdes is winning that battle too. Of his $11,925 total raised, Gerdes has spent just $7,627, most of it during the latest reporting period for mailers.
Abbott has spent $11,654 of her total funds, leaving less than $1,000 in the bank. She spent more than $5,000 of that during the most recent reporting period on mailers from the Clearwater business Post Card Mania.
Gerdes raked in maximum $1,000 contributions from the Pinellas PBA Political Action Committee, three Realtor committees, SEIU Florida Public Service Union PAC and Karen Gerdes — the candidate’s sister.
Financial planner Josh Shulman and St. Pete resident Marianne Palacios contributed $500 each to Gerdes’ re-election campaign. Contributions for $250 rolled in from the Brett Funeral Home and IUOE Local 925. Jim Shatz and John Gerdes each contributed $100.
There were only two contributions for under $100. St. Pete resident Maureen Eppley wrote a check for $50 and a student living in Tallahassee donated $25.
Gerdes is valiantly trying to earn re-election with as little fundraising as possible. He posted a $2,800 fundraising goal on his Facebook page asking for small donations prior to the October 4 deadline.
Gerdes is endorsed by both local newspapers and is expected to win another term handily. A recent poll showed Gerdes with a comfortable double-digit lead over Abbott.
The general election is November 3.
