The 2022 Q1 Federal Election Commission (FEC) fundraising numbers are out and the Republican congressional candidates vying to replace retiring Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D) (pictured) have combined to raise $4 million.
Former Navy SEAL Brady Duke leads the pack by having raised $1,621,759.23.
Of that, Duke is reporting that $678.872.69 is “cash on hand,” but is burning through his campaign cash at a 60% burn rate.
Former Combat Veteran Cory Mills comes in second just under $1 million raised with $979,951.67, of which $783,900 is available.
Mills, who is being targeted by the AOC-led Progressive "Squad," has put $750,000 worth of skin in the game but has shown a significant uptick in fundraising this quarter in comparison to the last quarter
Rep. Anthony Sabatini follows Mills with $893, 677.09.
Sabatini has $564,464.89 in the bank, but like Duke, is burning through his cash. Sabatini currently has about a 63% burn rate.
Former Vice Mayor of the City of DeBary, Erick Benfield has raised $166.661.94, with $105,538.16 cash on hand.
Benfield has loaned her campaign $52,500.
Longtime DC insider Rusty Roberts just jumped into the race and raised $173,801 in just two weeks. Just about every single penny of the money Roberts has raised is available.
But like Mills and Benfield, Roberts loaned his campaign money. Roberts loaned himself $50,000.
Businessman Scott Sturgill is only reporting to have raised $5,400.
According to the new proposed congressional map, Florida’s 7th Congressional District leans Republican, with the map having performed R+6 during the 2020 presidential election.
This Republican primary race will be the general election, with the winner being all but assured to be the next member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The big question in this race is, will all of these candidates have enough ad available cash to win the race?
Because Mills can self-fund and currently has more cash in the bank than anyone else in the race, Sabatini, Duke, and others, must find a way to keep from spending so much money if they hope to outlast Mills.
Also, a decent amount of the money Duke and Sabatini are reporting is allotted to the general election.
In other words, only $2,900 of the $5,800 maximum individual donations made to candidates can be used in the primary against Mills and the other candidates.
There is no clear frontrunner in this raise. All of the candidates are touting endorsements, but only Sabatini and Mills have congressional mentions of support. Sabatini has 6 congressional endorsements and Mills has 16.
