In the latest round of campaign reporting, community activist Darden Rice is pulling far ahead of the competition in the St. Petersburg City Council District 4 race.
For the last two weeks of July, the community activist added $6,545 to her coffers, for a total of just above $67,000. At the same time Tea Party activist Dr. David McKalip, Rice’s closest competition, added just a bit more money — $7,840 – but that includes a $2,500 in loans from the candidate. The neurosurgeon raised a total of $40,133.
Compared to her opponents, Rice is spending more on her campaign. After all, she leads in the polls. On the other hand, Rice is also in better financial condition entering the primary. She only used up $38,166 of her campaign funds — just around 55 percent of the overall take—giving her a steadfast a cash-on-hand total of nearly $29,000.
McKalip spent a bit more than $34,000 of his war chest, burning through 85 percent of his overall funds; it leaves him slightly over $6000 cash-in-hand.
Rice continues to experience strong labor support. She collected $500 each from AFSCME Council 79, representing state, county and municipal employees and the SEIU Florida Healthcare Union.
McKalip did get some union funding this round, with $500 from the Independent Electrical Contractors Union Power PAC.
Former Crescent Lake Neighborhood Association President Carolyn Fries raised $560 in the last two weeks of July, bringing her total to $8,277. Of that total, she spent $4,165 so far, or about half. Fries received a $250 donation from Dr. Charles Henri (Hank) Hines, executive director of the Salvador Dali Museum.
In District 8, fundraising has been a little slower, at least during the end of July. Frontrunner Amy Foster continues her substantial lead in both money raised and the polls. Foster (no relation to Mayor Bill) added $1,300 to her campaign, for a total of just shy of $26,000. She spent $15,600 so far.
Foster’s biggest supporter for the reporting period was the Florida Realtors PAC, with a $500 check.
Steve Galvin also ran similar fundraising numbers for his District 8 campaign, bringing in $1,275 for the two-week period. This makes his total $16,310, of which he spent a little over $8,400. Two lawyers from Palm Harbor each gave Galvin $500.
Alexander Duensing loaned himself $490 of the $572 collected during the current reporting period. His total for the District 8 campaign is $5,249, with less than $200 cash on hand. Robert Davis also picked up union support this time, with a $500 check from SEIU of Florida. It is Davis’ largest donation to date, giving him a total of $2,812, which he spent $1,193.
