Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), the likely Democratic general election candidate for Florida’s ongoing U.S. Senate race, raised millions more than incumbent Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) since the beginning of July.
The Demings campaign reported raising $4.7 million in the period from July 1 to August 3 — and in that same period, Rubio’s campaign raised only $1.9 million. The fundraising totals since the end of the second quarter, which concluded at the close of June, mean the general election fundraising total for the Demings campaign is millions higher than the Rubio campaign’s total. Although Florida’s primaries are still forthcoming, candidates for federal office are permitted to raise money for the general election before the primaries are concluded. If a candidate loses their primary, they must return the general election donations. By August 3, the general election fundraising total for the Demings campaign was more than $46 million, per the Florida Politics website. The Rubio campaign’s comparable total was $38 million.
Demings, notably, also outspent Rubio by a significant margin in July, perhaps suggesting that Rubio’s campaign is interested in trying to use previously established name recognition and party affiliation — things less affected by campaigning — towards boosting general election chances. The Demings campaign spent $7.5 million across July, while Rubio’s campaign spent $1.5 million. The Rubio campaign held more in cash on hand — meaning available funds — than the Demings campaign as of the close of the time period covered by these post-second quarter, pre-primary reports. The Rubio campaign had $15 million, while the Demings campaign had $8.8 million. Demings also significantly out-raised the Rubio campaign in the second quarter, when she brought in $12 million while Rubio gathered just $4.3 million.
“Not only is Marco Rubio failing to show up for his job in the Senate, he’s failing to show up on the campaign trail. After getting out-raised every quarter for over a year, Rubio’s campaign is still struggling. It’s clear that Floridians are fed up with Marco Rubio’s record of caving to special interests and refusing to do his job,” Florida Democratic Party spokesperson Grant Fox said around the time of the latest fundraising numbers for Demings and Rubio coming out. Two recent polls found Rubio and Demings with even levels of support. In one, sponsored by EMILY’s List, both had 46 percent of the support, while in another, sponsored by a pair of Democratic-leaning groups focusing on Florida, both the likely general election challengers had 45 percent overall. Earlier polling largely found Rubio in the lead, suggesting the tilt towards Dems reflected by other recent polling covering races across the midterms carries over into Florida — where millions of Democrats still reside, no matter the state’s recent gerrymandering-assisted GOP lean.
Two of the possibly brightest spots on the midterm elections map for Democrats this year are the Senate races in Arizona and Pennsylvania, where Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and John Fetterman (Pennsylvania’s current lieutenant governor) are leading their Republican challengers by often substantial margins. In recent polling, Fetterman is often up over Mehmet Oz, aka Dr. Oz, by double-digits. With Democrats delivering successful legislative initiatives like the climate and healthcare package that recently passed the Senate, which contained the largest single investment by the U.S. government into fighting climate change in history, the contrast between the major parties is clear.
