Former Gov. Charlie Crist’s political committee spent more than $123,000 in a single day this week, more than five times what the committee supporting St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch has spent since Oct. 17, as the two candidates enter the final days before Tuesday’s election.

St. Pete Shines, the political committee supporting Crist, has reported nearly $178,000 in expenditures since Oct. 17, compared with about $23,000 spent by Welch’s St. Petersburg Progress. At this point in the campaign, spending is a bigger data point than raw dollars raised, because it highlights how Crist’s large war chest is fueling him in the final push, even as Welch’s operation runs on fumes. 

The overall numbers show a substantial financial gap. Crist’s campaign and affiliated political committee have raised nearly $2.8 million and spent almost $2.5 million in his bid to unseat Welch. The incumbent’s operation, meanwhile, has raised about $610,000 and spent roughly $579,000 defending his seat.

Despite that spending, Crist still has about $272,000 remaining between his two accounts, while Welch is down to just over $30,000, according to the latest available campaign finance disclosures. With little time left to spend it, that cash gives Crist a cushion for any last-minute needs, while Welch has little to fall back on. The committee disclosures cover activity through Oct. 29 for Crist and Oct. 28 for Welch, while the candidates’ latest official campaign reports only cover activity through Oct. 16, as of Friday afternoon.

Most of St. Pete Shines’ Oct. 26 spending went to media firm GMMB, which received $49,000 for media production, and All Too Strategic, which received nearly $72,000 for advertising and digital outreach. Four days earlier, the committee spent more than $40,000 on mailers through Extensive Enterprises.

St. Pete Shines raised another $107,000 between Oct. 17 and Oct. 29, according to the latest campaign finance reports. 

That included $25,000 from New York businessman John Catsimatidis, $10,000 from Fred Bullard and $10,000 from the Voice of Florida Business Political Action Committee. The committee also received $5,000 from Reza Yazdani, $3,000 from Mitchell Rosenstein and $2,500 from Dead Bob’s.

Meanwhile, Welch’s committee raised $33,000 between Oct. 17 and Oct. 23 after two consecutive weeks without contributions. The money came from Making Democracy Work, which contributed $28,000, and Yazdani, who gave $5,000 on Oct. 23, five days before contributing the same amount to Crist’s committee.

St. Petersburg Progress also paid Counterpoint Messaging $20,000 for digital advertising on Oct. 22, its first reported direct voter outreach expenditure since Sept. 23, when it spent more than $19,000 on similar efforts. The committee reported just one subsequent expenditure through Oct. 28, a $17 bank fee.

The latest campaign finance filings with the St. Petersburg City Clerk show Crist’s official campaign spent nearly $85,000 between Oct. 10 and Oct. 16, including nearly $51,000 for media production and over $30,000 for advertising. Welch’s campaign spent nearly $2,300 during the same period, primarily on payroll and processing fees.

Both candidates face a Friday deadline to file updated campaign finance reports, which could change their remaining cash balances heading into the final weekend before the Nov. 3 election. Those reports have not become publicly available as of Friday afternoon.

Even if the outstanding reports show a late fundraising boost for Welch, the Mayor has just days left to turn that money into advertising and voter outreach — efforts Crist’s operation has been funding heavily for weeks.

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Ed. note: Michelle Todd Schorsch is the Chair of St. Pete Shines, a political committee backing Crist for St. Petersburg Mayor. Todd Schorsch is married to Peter Schorsch, the publisher of Florida Politics.