Republicans are salivating over the prospect of winning Florida’s 13th Congressional District back from Democrats and Rep. Charlie Crist during the 2022 midterm election cycle.
The newly proposed redistricted congressional map is good news for Republicans, as voters supported former President Donald Trump by 7 points over President Joe Biden.
During the 2020 election, Republican congressional nominee Anna Paulina Luna lost to Rep. Crist by 6 percentage points, leaving the door wide open for another potential primary election challenge in 2022 from Amanda Makki.
Makki has come out swinging against Luna, referring to her as a “phony” and pressing the narrative that Luna was trounced by Crist in a district that President Trump narrowly lost.
According to the latest Federal Election Commission (FEC) reporting, Luna has raised a whopping $1,431,769.19, almost doubling the $763,975.75 that Makki has raised to date.
But even though Luna has raised more, Makki has more cash on hand.
Makki has $513,716.57 in the bank, while Luna has $465, 048.97.
Interestingly enough, Luna’s congressional campaign has received $149, 204.44 from other committees, two of them being from the affiliated APL PAC and the APL Victory. Fund.
$191,549.90 of the $1,431,769.19 Luna raised was contributed by the two committees.
Both the APL PAC and APL Victory Fund are all but broke, with each having a few thousand dollars left in their respective campaign accounts.
APL PAC raised $193,388.62 and has $7,282.31 left in the bank, while APL Victory Fund was able to raise $273, 695.oo, but now has a paltry $2,250 cash on hand.
Several individual donors who have given to Luna's congressional campaign also donated to these two committees, and appear to have their donations redirected to Luna's campaign.
This is perfectly legal, but usually, in these instances, the committee spends its money to try to help elect the candidate and doesn't outright contribute to the candidate.
The third leading candidate in this Republican primary race is small business owner Audrey Henson.
Henson has raised $377,652.68 and has $212,687.40 available.
Luna is considered the frontrunner in the primary race largely because she has been endorsed by President Trump and because she was on the general election ballot in 2020, but this is a newly formed congressional district, and all bets are off.
Makki has just announced that she has qualified to be on the ballot by garnering the necessary petitions.
