There is finally some daylight between the crowded field of Republican candidates vying to be the next U.S. Representative in Florida’s 18th congressional district.
Several candidates who are considered to be possible frontrunners, are beginning to distance themselves from those who appear to be struggling to get any kind of footing in his soon-to-be contentious Republican primary race.With the third quarter Federal Elections Commission reporting ending on September 30th, wounded Army veteran Brian Mast (pictured) is reporting that he raised $167,000, bringing this grand total of campaign dollars raised to $235,000.
Mast’s campaign says that the political newbie raised cash for his official congressional campaign account, as well as from the Mast Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee that is made up of the Mast for Congress account and the Valor Leadership PAC.
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Mast has loaned his campaign about $10,000.
Martin County School Board member and wife to Florida state Senator Joe Negron, Rebecca Negron, only raised $106,000 this quarter, bringing her net donation total to $281,000.
Negron is considered by some to be the frontrunner in this congressional race because of her husband’s political bully pulpit, and the hard work he is putting in behind the scenes to raise money for her campaign from loyal lobbyists and supporters.Negron was expected to outpace her competitors in the donations department, including self-funder and former GOP congressional nominee, Carl Domino, who dropped in$200,000 of his own cash into his campaign last reporting cycle.
Republican Attorney Rick Kozell came out swinging in his first campaign finance reporting cycle with an impressive $100,000 cash haul, but was then slapped on the wrist by the FEC for having reported “excessive contributions.” Kozell raised $77,000 this quarter.
Kozell’s campaign replied to the FEC by stating that all of the “excessive” donations were “temporarily listed as such pending re-attribution to a spouse or re-designation to a different election period.” Team Kozell also acknowledged that they have refunded the $1,500 in business contributions that was also reported.
Roughly $10,000 of Kozell’s initial donations came from family members.
Chalk it up to being new to the political game and process, but most, if not all, federal campaign Treasurer’s have read the very clear FEC guideline which outlines that business donations are not permitted.According to the FEC, Kozell has not reported his quarterly report.
Speaking of being a novice at politics and really screwing up on a FEC report, Dr. Marc Freeman is having to return a $200,000 check his business partner donated to his congressional campaign.
The Palm Beach Post reported on Freeman’s screw up.
At least Freeman acknowledge the obvious with his statement about his campaign finance setback:“At the time the funds were provided the candidate and the donor were unaware of excess contribution rules or personal transactions that might inadvertently appear as such, so the committee is refunding the entire balance of funds in the amount of $200,000 to Mr. Barad in October 2015.
“To be blunt, we screwed up.”- Dr. Marc Freeman
Aside from the $200,000 check, Freeman has only raised $34,497.
Paul Spain, who ran for congress in 2014 against Rep. Lois Frankel in CD 22, has stated he was not fundraising until October 15, 2015. So, in other words, Spain has not raised any money for his congressional campaign.
He has a lot of catching up to do.
Another political newcomer is Carla Spalding, who has reported raising $5435 this quarter.Rounding off the list of declared GOP congressional candidates in this race is political operative Noelle Nikpour of Arkansas, who hasn’t reported any money raised.