Florida House Majority Leader Dane Eagle (R) has just posted a whopping $422K raised in just under two months of campaigning, with $374K being cash on hand.
Eagle, who is considering the frontrunner in the Republican congressional primary race to replace retiring Rep. Francis Rooney (R) in Florida's 19th district, has released a host of local endorsements, many of whom have also lent their financial support for his campaign efforts.
Current Speaker of the Florida House Jose Oliva, former Florida House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, and state Reps. Chris Dorworth, Gary Aubuchon, and Jim Boyd have all endorsed Eagle.
While we haven’t seen any current or former members of the U.S. Congress officially endorse in this race, a campaign contribution from a members committee can be perceived as an endorsement.
The committees of Congressman Gus Bilirakis, former U.S. Senator George LeMieux, and former Congressman Jeff Miller have all contributed to Eagle.
One of Florida’s fundraising ‘kingmakers” has also donated to Rep. Eagle.
Automobile magnate Norman Braman, one of Senator Marco Rubio’s closets allies and contributors gave Eagle the maximum donation amount allowed by federal law, $11,200.
Braman and his wife both donated the individual maximum allowed of $5600.
Braman’s donation could be considered significant, not just because he could infuse more money into the race via political committees, but because of his close ties to Rubio.
Rubio hasn’t signaled if he was going to weigh into this race but is keeping on eye on it, just as he is other races around the state.
Eagle primary consists of a slew of other candidates, including conservative pundit Ford O’Connell who just reported $300K raised and Naples Urologist William Figlesthaler, aka Dr. Fig, who reported over $500 raised, of that $400K came in form of a loan from. Dr. Fig.
State Rep. Byron Donalds will not be reporting his fundraising numbers until after the March 30th cut off date.
