Nikki Fried’s political committee trails the pack in mid-July

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried’s political committee has raised $ 21,000 so far in July, bringing her committee to the bottom in the governor’s fundraising race.

Since the South Florida Democrat publicly confirmed almost a year ago that she was considering challenging Governor Ron DeSantis, her committee, Florida Consumers First, has raised nearly $ 1.4 million and is working with $ 1.8 million. More than a quarter of that, $ 437,000, has been accrued since their campaign officially launched last month.

But their pace slowed down considerably in the first three weeks of July. Of 45 donations made that month, her committee received just $ 21,000, backed by two $ 10,000 donations – one from law firm Levin Papantonio Rafferty and one from CBD entrepreneur Hussein Rakine.

However, the majority of June donations to the committee came in the last week of this month. More than half of the total contributions made that month came on June 30th.

“We are well on the way to win the primary elections and start full steam ahead into the general to defeat Ron DeSantis,” said Fried campaign spokesman Max Flugrath.

Each month end is a deadline for candidates hoping to get a strong fundraiser, especially as the first month of the campaign ends.

While Fried holds the award as the last Democrat to win nationwide and the only one to hold a national office now, she won that title by a narrow margin. She defeated Republican Matt Caldwell with just 6,753 votes out of more than 8 million votes cast in the 2018 Agriculture Commissioner Race, a competition that was only granted after mandatory machine and manual recounts confirmed her victory.

Before entering electoral politics, Fried was a medical marijuana lobbyist. Financial revelations from her time in the industry caused early heartburn on her campaign after updating previous years’ earnings with an additional $ 517,000 in revenue.

Fried follows her rival in the Democratic primary, US MP Charlie Crist, in fundraising. His committee, Friends of Charlie Crist, grossed $ 61,000 and has $ 1.4 million this month alone.

Fried’s first month’s loot, both on her personal account and on her committee, also lagged significantly behind Crist’s. The former governor raised roughly $ 1.5 million in his first month.

Still, both candidates are worth millions to compete with DeSantis’ war chest, which benefits from his national fame with the Conservatives. Not only does he lead both Democrats in polls for the gubernatorial race, but he also leads the Republicans in the 2024 presidential primary if former President Donald Trump is not up for election.

His political committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, has raised $ 537,000 so far this month. In addition, the fundraising giant has more than $ 45 million.

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