Andrew Gillum, Ryan Torrens get boost from matching funds

Jim Turner | News Service of Florida

More than $669,000 in public matching funds were doled out Friday to nine statewide candidates for governor and Cabinet positions, with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and Democratic attorney-general candidate Ryan Torrens picking up their first checks.

With the $669,147 release, the state has now sent about $4.51 million to candidates. The largest checks Friday were issued to Gillum and Torrens, with their hauls reflecting matches for every individual contribution of $250 or less for most of their campaigns, according to Florida Division of Elections numbers.

All the other candidates getting state funding Friday only picked up matches for the period of July 28 to Aug. 3, after they received earlier matches.

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Gillum received $436,276 on Friday, while Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis got $60,190, Democrat Gwen Graham received $34,044, and Republican Adam Putnam picked up $10,879.

DeSantis, a Northeast Florida congressman has now received $886,421 from the matching-funds program. Graham, a former congresswoman from Tallahassee, has received almost $1.13 million and Putnam, the state’s agriculture commissioner, is up to $1.02 million.

No public money is dispensed until candidates for governor reach $150,000 in relatively small-dollar contributions received in a period that began last September. For Cabinet candidates, the threshold is $100,000.

For Torrens, an attorney from Hillsborough County, the $88,694 he received Friday is almost a late-in-the-primary lifeline, as he’s struggled to keep ahead of expenses since entering the contest in May 2017.

Torrens’ Democratic primary opponent, Rep. Sean Shaw of Tampa, received $13,938 on Friday, bringing his assistance from the program to $172,763.

Overall, Shaw --- through his campaign account and a political committee has raised about $1.15 million, while Torrens has raised $131,215 and loaned his campaign $8,450.

Republican Ashley Moody, a former Hillsborough County judge running for attorney general, received $5,860 in matching funds Friday and has received a total of $319,208 from the program.

Moody, through her campaign account and a political committee, had raised $3.86 million as of Aug. 3, compared to the $4.6 million raised by her primary opponent, Rep. Frank White of Pensacola.

White, whose overall fundraising total includes $2.77 million of his own money, has objected to the matching program and made an issue in the campaign of Moody’s acceptance of state funds.

In the race to replace Putnam as agriculture commissioner, Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, got $18,917 in matching funds Friday and has a total of $255,755.

Grimsley is the only candidate receiving matching funds among the seven Republicans and Democrats running for agriculture commissioner.

Republican state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who doesn’t have a primary opponent and will face Democrat Jeremy Ring in the November general election, received $350 in matching funds Friday.

Patronis, who had raised more than $4.6 million through his campaign account and a political committee as of Aug. 3, has now received $289,420 from the state.

Ring, a former state senator from Broward County who isn’t in the matching-funds program, has raised nearly $1.1 million for his campaign account and a political committee.

With the latest checks, the matching-funds program has surpassed the $4.34 million that candidates drew in 2014. Candidates used the program to reinforce their campaign accounts by $6.1 million in 2010.