{"id":367567,"date":"2026-08-10T16:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367567\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T16:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:19:06","slug":"charlie-crists-fundraising-advantage-on-full-display-with-major-ad-buys-twice-the-mail-as-ken-welch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367567\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Crist\u2019s fundraising advantage on full display with major ad buys, twice the mail as Ken Welch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Gov. Charlie Crist continues to show his fundraising prowess, with the most recent campaign finance reports showing him significantly growing his cash advantage over his opponents in the race for St. Petersburg Mayor, including incumbent Mayor Ken Welch.<\/p>\n

Crist raised $32,600 to his affiliated political committee, St. Pete Shines<\/a>, in the most recent period covering July 25-31. The committee has raised more than $1.7 million so far, and after more than $249,000 in expenditures during the most recent period, retains more than $650,000. Welch was the only other candidate to post committee fundraising during the most recent reporting period, but his total is a mere fraction of what Crist raised, at just over $2,500.<\/p>\n

When looking at cash-on-hand across all accounts, Crist has nearly nine times more to work with than Welch, and a significantly stronger advantage compared to any other candidate in the race.<\/p>\n

The cash advantage is even more stark when considering spending. During the most recent one-week period, Crist\u2019s political committee dropped more than $249,000, with its largest expenditure, $140,000, paying for advertising. Another $105,000 paid for mailers. No other candidate in the race spent that significantly on voter outreach.<\/p>\n

Welch\u2019s political committee, St. Petersburg Progress<\/a>, spent nearly $68,000 in the most recent period, with $50,000 of that going toward mailers. That means Welch spent half as much on mailers as Crist, and didn\u2019t post any expenditures related to other media buys on television, streaming or radio.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to Welch\u2019s political committee fundraising again falling well short of his top challenger, it also came from just one donor \u2014 Marshall Funk, a marina executive based in Texas who previously bid<\/a> to run the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina.<\/p>\n

The situation is even more grim for Brandi Gabbard, an outgoing St. Pete City Council member who has consistently been polling in third place and within striking distance of Welch, who has consistently polled in second place.<\/p>\n

Gabbard\u2019s Forward Together PC<\/a> didn\u2019t raise anything during the most recent period, and it has less than $13,000 still on hand after spending just under $2,800 in the most recent period on text service. The committee has raised just over $23,000 to date.<\/p>\n

Her campaign raised nearly $6,000 in the most recent reporting period, bringing her total campaign contributions to nearly $54,000. But Gabbard retains about $15,000 as of July 31. Combined, Gabbard retains just $28,000.<\/p>\n

Former St. Pete Fire Chief Jim Large\u2019s political committee, A Better Burg<\/a>, also did not raise any funds in the most recent period, and hasn\u2019t raised anything since July 10. The committee has raised $56,550 to date and retains about $38,000.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Large\u2019s campaign raised just $425 in the most recent period, bringing the total raised to just over $94,000. Of that, he maintains a little less than $20,000, for a cash-on-hand total across all accounts of about $58,000.<\/p>\n

Two other candidates in the race \u2014 businessman Kevin Batdorf and jail administrator Maria Scruggs \u2014 have struggled with fundraising. Batdorf didn\u2019t raise anything in the most recent fundraising period, and he\u2019s brought in just $4,505 overall. His campaign has spent more than it raised.<\/p>\n

Scruggs is doing slightly better, with $495 raised in the most recent period and more than $21,000 overall. But she retains less than $1,000. Scruggs\u2019 political committee, The Shelynn PAC, didn\u2019t post any recent fundraising. It has brought in $7,500 this election cycle and retains less than $1,000.<\/p>\n

Crist\u2019s campaign raised more than $14,000, bringing total campaign contributions to more than $115,000, with more than $67,000 still on hand. He continues to lead fundraising in both his political committee and campaign accounts with more than $1.8 million raised across both funding sources. Crist has more than $700,000 left to spend, as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Crist\u2019s major cash-on-hand advantage will become even more important after Aug. 18. Assuming Crist advances to the General Election in November \u2014 the top two vote-getters move on \u2014 he will have a major funding advantage against anyone he might face. At the current $700,000 mark, Crist would have nearly nine times as much cash to work with if he faces Welch. Against Gabbard, Crist would have 25 times more cash on hand. Should Large find an inside track, Crist would have about 12 times as much available to spend.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a rundown of all candidate reports, in order of polling position<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Charlie Crist<\/p>\n

St. Pete Shines political committee: $32,600 raised July 25-31; $1,732,306 raised total; $249,310 spent July 25-31; $1,082,036 spent overall; $650,270 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Campaign: $14,365 raised July 25-31; $115,498 raised total; $292 spent July 25-31; $48,111 spent overall; $67,387 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Total cash on hand as of July 31: $717,657<\/p>\n

Ken Welch<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg Progress political committee: $2,518 raised July 25-31; $356,578 raised total; $67,909 spent July 25-31; $300,367 spent overall; $56,211 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Campaign: $1,985 raised July 25-31; $80,283 raised total; $3,306 spent July 25-31; $55,544 spent overall; $24,739 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Total cash on hand as of July 31: $80,950<\/p>\n

Brandi Gabbard<\/p>\n

Forward Together PC: Nothing raised July 25-31; $23,100 raised total; $2,770 spent July 25-31; $10,640 spent overall; $12,460 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Campaign: $5,875 raised July 25-31; $53,877 raised total; $839 spent July 25-31; $38,608 spent overall; $15,269 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Total cash on hand as of July 31: $27,729<\/p>\n

Jim Large<\/p>\n

A Better Burg political committee: Nothing raised July 25-31; $56,550 raised total; nothing spent July 25-31; $18,246 spent overall; $38,304 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Campaign: $425 raised July 25-31; $94,190 raised total; $19,299 spent July 25-31; $74,580 spent overall; $19,610 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Total cash on hand as of July 31: $57,914<\/p>\n

Maria Scruggs<\/p>\n

The Shelynn PAC: Nothing raised July 25-31; $7,500 raised total; $25 spent July 25-31; $6,530 spent overall; $970 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Campaign: $495 raised July 25-31; $21,384 raised total; $687 spent July 25-31; $20,768 spent overall; $616 on hand as of July 31.<\/p>\n

Total cash on hand as of July 31: $1,586<\/p>\n

Kevin Batdorf<\/p>\n

Campaign: Nothing raised July 25-31; $4,505 raised total; $8 spent July 25-31; $4,764 spent overall<\/p>\n

Total cash on hand as of July 31: -$259<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Jesse Mendoza of Florida Politics contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Ed. note:\u00a0Michelle Todd Schorsch\u00a0is the Chair of St. Pete Shines, a political committee backing Crist for St. Petersburg Mayor. Todd Schorsch is married to\u00a0Peter Schorsch, the publisher of Florida Politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Gov. Charlie Crist continues to show his fundraising prowess, with the most recent campaign finance reports showing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3300,3347,71439,2346,72295,3175,202,204,3303,18455,3304,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-367567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-brandi-gabbard","tag-charlie-crist","tag-jim-large","tag-ken-welch","tag-kevin-batdorf","tag-maria-scruggs","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-mayors-race","tag-st-pete-mayoral-election","tag-st-pete-mayoral-race","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}