St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch is essentially out of cash, and his paid campaign activities have come to a screeching halt.
Welch didn’t raise a single penny to his affiliated political committee, St. Petersburg Progress, in the most recent reporting period covering financial activity Oct. 3-9. He spent a little more than $16,000, but none of it went to direct voter outreach; the expenses went exclusively to consulting and legal fees, and the legal fees accounted for only a few hundred dollars of Welch’s most recent expenses.
The most recent committee report offers the clearest picture yet of the challenge that has been building in the Welch campaign for months. Its lackluster fundraising activity since at least the Primary Election, and to some degree before it, has left Welch with little more cash than what’s needed to pay staff and keep HQ lights on.
Welch’s opponent, meanwhile, has consistently reported spending on mail communication to voters, text messages, and ad buys.
In the most recent period, former Gov. Charlie Crist raised $81,500 to his affiliated political committee, St. Pete Shines. The committee dropped a staggering nearly $116,000 in one week, with more than $36,000 spent on mailers; nearly $27,000 on an ad buy; nearly $17,000 on campaign text alerts; and more than $15,000 on digital advertising.
Worse, Welch is losing the ability to keep up with overhead. His committee has just over $11,000 on hand. As of 4:30 p.m. Friday, Welch’s finance report for his campaign account had not yet been made publicly available, but as of Oct. 2, that account held less than $14,000. Unless Welch had a banner week raising funds for his official campaign, that cash-on-hand number is likely lower now.
This is the point in campaigning when spending becomes requisite, so it’s unlikely Welch’s campaign sat on that $14K. And his track record suggests any refill to his coffers is modest. In the week ending Oct. 2, Welch’s campaign banked just $1,150. The week before that, it raised less than $7,000, better, but still a paltry sum for an incumbent facing a tough challenge. In the report before that one, which covered more than one week, Welch reported raising less than $4,000.
Crist, meanwhile, took his PC past the $2.3 million mark with its most recent fundraising period. The former Governor maintains more than $220,000 on hand.
At the same time, Crist’s campaign continues to raise aggressively, bringing in nearly $17,000 over the one-week period. That account has nearly $173,000 remaining, for a combined resource total of nearly $400,000.
As of Friday, when the reports were due, there are just 17 days until Election Day, and people are already voting. The time is now, and the preceding two weeks, to reach voters as they finalize their decisions. Finance reports for both the campaigns and political committees are due again next week. If Welch’s numbers look like they have in recent weeks, he’ll be in a poor position to make his final pitch to voters.
