It’s a looonnnggg time until Election Day in 2014. A long time. The game is still only in the first or second inning. That’s how long there is until Election Day.
But that doesn’t mean score isn’t kept in these first innings. In fact, with the first full fundraising quarter in the books, it’s an appropriate time to gauge which Tampa Bay candidates are lookin’ good this early in the 2014 cycle.
Here’s where sh*t stands.
Looking good
Senator Jeff Brandes — Consider this: Less than three years ago, Brandes was not even in the race for House District 52 against incumbent Bill Heller. Today, the freshman State Senator raised the second-most money of any candidate up for re-election next year. Brandes hauled in $110,000 during the first three months of 2013, from an array of donors diverse as Florida itself. Brandes’ District 22 is, voter performance and registration wise, the only viable target for Democrats in 2014, but with the kind of head start Brandes is already getting out to, it’s difficult to envision someone stepping up to challenge him.
Representative Darryl Rouson — Finally, a Pinellas Democrat unafraid to raise money for a sure-win campaign. Perhaps that’s why Rouson is slated to be Democratic Leader in the Florida House come November 2014. The St. Petersburg attorney raked in over $32K last quarter, not counting what he raised for the party.
Representative Dana Young — How many more times can this blog describe Young as a rock star? As many as we want, although soon we might have to describe her as Lieutenant Governor Young. In the event the South Tampa Republican is not asked by Governor Rick Scott to serve as his LG, Rep. Young is already off to a strong fundraising start, hauling in $61,150 last quarter. To contrast, the Speaker Designate, Steve Crisafulli, took in $56,800.
House District 61 candidate Sean Shaw — In the race to replace the term-limited Betty Reed, attorney and consumer advocate Sean Shaw has jumped out to early lead by raising nearly $30,000 during the first quarter. That’s a lot in a district not known for candidates raising a lot of money. Your move, Ed Narain.
Looking decent
Representative Dwight Dudley — A Democrat picking up $9,350 in a quarter reminds me a lot of how former Rep. Rick Kriseman fundraised — not a lot, not a little. It’s just that there is so much money for the plucking in Dudley’s district — City Council candidate Darden Rice just raised $25K for her race and she represents but a sliver of Dudley’s district — that it seems like Dudley’s leaving money on the table.
Representative Ed Hooper (now running for the Pinellas County Commissioner) — There’s just this disappointing trend of Pinellas legislators unable to bring in a stack of high society (10K). Sure, sure, Hooper brought in $9,450 for his County Commission bid, but as Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Hooper could have fallen backwards into three times that without lifting a finger.
House District 65 candidate Chris Sprowls — The charismatic state prosecutor looking to challenge Democratic incumbent Carl Zimmermann has raised $36,000 to date, but only $7,350 of that came during the last quarter. That’s understandable as most non-incumbents are overlooked during the fundraising period leading up the legislative session. But it would have said something had Sprowl raised at least $10K during the first three months of 2013.
Hillsborough County Commissioners Ken Hagan and Al Higginbotham — Hagan, who so far has no opposition from either party in his re-election campaign for the countywide District 5 commission seat, raised $49,175. Higginbotham, who is running for the countywide seat District 7 seat, raised $47,910. It would have made for better headlines if either of these two candidates crossed the $50K threshhold, but still, these are solid numbers this early in the cycle.
Pinellas County Republican Party — The accounting from its Lincoln Day Dinner is not finalized but if you compare what it brought in this period with other comparable periods in previous election cycles, the 2013 LDD was was just as lucrative as those in other off-years. I see $80K raised and $27K spent during the first three months of 2013. Compare that to $67K raised and 59K spent in the first three months of 2011. Not bad, Mr. Guju.
Looking shaky
Representative Jamie Grant — Two months ago, I would have said Grant had nothing to worry about in terms of being re-elected. Then he got Deesoned. While Grant is still an affable pol with a big last name in an overwhelmingly Republican district, there’s no excuse for him raising just $1,100 last quarter. That kind of number just invites the wrong kind of speculation. Heck, if I am former Rep. Shawn Harrison, I might think I had a better chance knocking off Grant from the right than rematching Mark Danish in HD 63.
While Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern raised $21,080 for her District 7 bid, the other Democrat in the race, Hillsborough School Board Chairman April Griffin raised just $11,515. Such a paltry total will do little to convince other candidates to stay out of an already crowded field.
