Bill Galvano adds to his campaign fund-raising advantage

Bill Galvano continues to pad his war chest for his campaign for the Florida Senate -- and there still is not an opponent in sight.

Galvano, who is running to represent a district still taking shape during the Legislature's redistricting process, collected $42,945 in contributions during the final three months of year, bringing his total haul so far to more than $348,100, according to reports filed with the Florida Division of Elections.

Galvano, a Republican from Bradenton, has spent more than $136,700 on his campaign, meaning he ended 2011 with more than $211,000 in the bank.

The most recent reports, filed this month, cover the fourth quarter of 2011.

Galvano, a former member of the Florida House, is hoping to replace Sen. Mike Bennett as Bradenton's representative in the Florida Senate. However, the exact boundaries of his district -- and other legislative and congressional districts -- remain to be set by the Legislature. (Bennett cannot run again because of term limits.)

Galvano is currently listed as a candidate for Senate District 21. No one else has filed to run for the seat.

To see a detailed list of Galvano's donors, go to this page and click on "Campaign Finance Activity."

To see what other local and statewide candidates are raising and spending, start here.

Pat Neal says he won't run against Bill Galvano for Florida Senate

It was puzzling to read this morning that former state Sen. Pat Neal was the "expected opponent" for former state Rep. Bill Galvano in the race for Bradenton's seat in the Florida Senate. As one of the area's most prominent developers, Neal probably has the name ID and financial heft to go toe to- oe with Galvano, who has been running for the seat for more than a year, but nothing to this point had suggested that the Senate race would be a venue for clash of two of the area's political titans.


Today, Neal all but completely disabused the notion he was preparing for a re-entry into electoral politics as a candidate.


The Herald's Jim Jones reports:

Based on the way Florida Senate District 21 has been redrawn, developer and former state senator Pat Neal says he won’t be a candidate to replace the term-limited Mike Bennett of Bradenton. 

To date, former state representative Bill Galvano, a Republican from Bradenton, is the only declared candidate for the District 21 seat. 

“It’s not my intent to run against Bill Galvano, He’s been my friend for 30 years. I don’t ever contemplate running against Bill,” Neal said Tuesday.

For his part, Galvano says he is happy to run in the District 21, as proposed by the Senate's redistricting committee.

Bill Galvano continues to draw in big money for Senate race

The campaign cash is flowing to lawmakers in Tallahassee and to those hoping to join them.

And that includes to officeholders and candidates for seats in the Manatee County delegation.

Here's a breakdown:

• Former state Rep. Bill Galvano, a Republican from Bradenton running unopposed for a state Senate seat, collected $56,700 in contributions during the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, bringing his total take so far to more than $305,000. Galvano so far has spent almost $109,000 on his campaign.
• State Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, raised $19,000 in the third quarter, bringing her haul to $63,400. So far running opposed, she has spent more than $8,000 on her re-election effort.
• State Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, raised $12,350 in the third quarter for his re-election campaign, bringing his total to $19,150. He has spent almost $9,200. His only announced opponent, Republican Sharon Russ of St. Petersburg, reported receiving $140 in the third quarter, bringing her total to $290. She has spent a total of $185 on her campaign. (House District 57 includes parts of Manatee County.)
• State Rep. Greg Steube, R-Bradenton, reported receiving $7,750 in contributions during the third quarter, bringing his total take to more than $23,000. He has spent almost $8,900 on his re-election effort. So far, he is running unopposed for re-election.
• State Rep. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, reported receiving almost $41,000 in contributions in the third quarter, bringing his total take to almost $56,000. So far running unopposed, Boyd has spent almost $2,800 on his re-election campaign.
• State Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota, reported receiving more than $52,000 in contributions in the third quarter. So far running unopposed for re-election, Pilon has collected total of more than $58,000 and spent more than $3,000.

Greg Steube keeps fundraising lead

Greg Steube has maintained the fund-raising lead he established early on in the race for the District 67 seat in the Florida House of Representatives.

In the first three months of this year, Steube raised $26,555, bringing the total raised to more than $176,000, according to reports filed with the Florida Division of Elections. After spending more than $26,000 in the first quarter of 2010, Steube had more than $129,000 in cash on hand.

Three other Republican candidates -- Jeremiah J. Guccione, Robert K. McCann and Marie Nisco -- have announced for the seat, but as of Monday afternoon Steube was the only one to have qualified for the Aug. 24 ballot by submitting the required number of petition signatures.

Incumber Ron Reagan, R-Bradenton, cannot run for re-election because of term limits.

The latest campaign finance reports, covering activity in the first three months of 2010, had been filed by all the campaigns, except for Guccione's, by Monday afternoon.

McCann reported raising $20,860 in contributions during the first quarter, bringing his total raised to more than $89,000; he also has loaned his campaign an additional $25,000. As of March 31, he had almost $40,000 in cash on hand.

This was the first time in the campaign that Nisco has filed a finance report. She reported no contributions or expenses, but did list a $300 loan from herself to the her campaign.

The lone Democrat in the race, Z.J. Hafeez, reported collecting more than $19,900 in cash and in-kind contributions. He spent almost $3,600, bring his cash on hand to almost $50,000 -- including a $10,000 loan from himself.

In another race of local interest, Republican Jim Boyd, the only candidate in the District 68 race, reported collecting more than $13,700 in cash and in-kind contributions, and spending almost $7,100. As of March 31, he had more than $72,000 in the bank -- including $12,500 in loans from himself.

District 68 incumbent Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, cannot run for re-election because of term limits.

But Galvano has been busy raising money for his bid for the 21st Senate District seat now held by Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton.

In the first three months of 2010, Galvano raised almost $52,000, bringing his cash on hand to more than $168,000

To read the campaign finance reports, including the list of donors and itemized lists of expenses, go here.