Florida Democrats Struggle To Raise Money For 2018 Gubernatorial Race

October 17, 2017

Stuck with a weak field of lackluster gubernatorial candidates, Florida Democrats are struggling to raise money, threatening their ability to field competitive campaigns with little over a year until Election Day. POLITICO reports that the three major Democrat candidates, Andrew Gillum, Gwen Graham, and Chris King, raised only $503,000 combined in September while two Republican candidates raised “almost four times” that amount. The news has spurred “a fresh round of bipartisan speculation that the GOP is on track to hold on to the governor’s mansion,” while one Democrat pollster calls it a sign that Democrats are “not excited by our candidates.”

As Democrats find themselves facing an increasingly apparent enthusiasm gap in the Sunshine State, their lackluster fundraising numbers will further damage their ability to compete in what will surely be an expensive gubernatorial contest in 2018.

POLITICO reports:

“The top three Democratic candidates for governor are struggling so mightily to fundraise that they pulled in less money last month than a little-known Republican state senator in the race, stoking a fresh round of bipartisan speculation that the GOP is on track to hold on to the governor’s mansion it has controlled for two decades.

Together, Gwen Graham, Andrew Gillum and Chris King hauled in $503,000 in September, while Republican state Sen. Jack Latvala raked in nearly $825,000. And the GOP’s fundraising front-runner, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, blew them all away by reporting more than $1.1 million.

Putnam and Latvala raised almost four times more money than the three Democrats combined…

‘There may be Democrats saying they’re not excited by our candidates, while people like me are excited about John and hope he runs,’ said Democratic fundraiser Ben Pollara, ‘but this can’t be blamed on Morgan. John isn’t out there freezing money the way, say, Charlie Crist did in 2013 when he was planning to run for governor while saying he wasn’t running for governor at the time.’”