Relying heavily on small-dollar donors, a political committee tied to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried raised nearly $215,000 in May, a newly filed finance report shows. The $214,832 collected by the committee Florida Consumers First was significantly less than what was raised by political committees linked to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist.
The committee Friends of Ron DeSantis raised $7.582 million in May, while the committee Friends of Charlie Crist raised $1.214 million. Crist also raised $323,963 for his campaign account, reports filed Thursday show.
Fried, the state’s agriculture commissioner, opened a campaign account June 1 and will file the first report for the account in July. Florida Consumers First, which spent $73,293 in May, had about $1.65 million on hand as of May 31. Florida Consumers First received 876 contributions during the month.
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This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2021.