Campaign contributions — from the thousands to the millions — generated numerous television ads and political mailers, which piled inside mailboxes. Text messages crammed cellphone inboxes, and candidate signs were seen just about everywhere along U.S. 1.
Funds garnered by the campaigns flew in a presidential election year that, to date, has seen a 52% voter turnout in Monroe County. Early votes total 10,610, and vote by mail counts are at 19,503 as of Oct. 27.
According to latest campaign finance reports, a contentious race for Congress’ 26th District saw the most dollars raised between the campaigns for Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Republican challenger and current Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Contributions for Mucarsel-Powell’s run totaled $5.7 million, while Gimenez gathered just over $1.7 million in campaign contributions. As of Oct. 14, Mucarsel-Powell’s camp spent $5.5 million. Gimenez’s campaign spent around $1.6 million.
At the state level, hundreds of thousands of dollars paid for ads, mailers and other campaign communication in races for the Florida State Senate’s 39th District, which covers Monroe County and south Miami-Dade, and the Florida State House’s 120th District, which represents the Keys and portions of Miami-Dade. Republican state senate candidate Ana Maria Rodriguez received a little over $812,300 in campaign contributions, while Democrat Javier Fernandez’s campaign received around $501,000.
The campaigns for Republican state house candidate Jim Mooney and Democratic candidate Clint Barras each raised around $253,000. Republican incumbent and current State Attorney Dennis Ward secured just over $91,822 in campaign contributions, while Democratic challenger Donald Barrett’s campaign received a little more than $27,900.
Republican Craig Cates’ campaign raised the most funds among Monroe County Commission candidates running for seats at $125,043. Cates is running for Monroe County Commission’s District 1, which covers Key West, against Democrat Annalise Mannix, whose campaign received just over $23,000 in campaign contributions.
The Republican candidate for District 5, Mike Forster, raised the second most among county commission candidates with just over $57,000, followed by the campaign for current District 3 commissioner, Democrat Heather Carruthers, with a little more than $26,960. Forster is running against Jose Peixoto, a non-party affiliate, whose campaign raised around $9,400. Carruthers is squaring off against Republican Eddie Martinez, whose campaign garnered $12,600 in campaign contributions.
Campaign funds have also been flying in the races for Islamorada Village Council. Seat 2 candidate Cheryl Meads, a former council member, raised $92,733 to date. The next closest is Meads’ opponent, Mark Gregg, with around $18,500 in contributions received.
In Seat 3, Joseph “Buddy” Pinder’s campaign raised around $14,900 while Jenny Bell-Thomson’s campaign received $10,745. In Seat 5, contributions for Larry Zettwoch’s campaign are around $14,200 while David Webb’s campaign has received just over $5,400. In Seat 1, Pete Bacheler’s campaign raised around $9,100 while Frank Lavin’s campaign raised around $8,400.
