Mayor Alvin Brown picked an opportune time to have his best month of fundraising.
Weeks before the March 24 first election, Brown raised more than $363,000 in donations in February.
His chief financial competition in the race, Republican Lenny Curry, secured more than $189,000 for the month. That’s down from his January haul of almost $440,000, when Brown picked up $223,000.
The head-to-head on the financial front has been closer in recent months. Brown had a 15-month head start before Curry jumped in the campaign.
Despite that advantage, Curry moved ahead of Brown after January, but the February totals bring the two to an almost dead heat.
The difference between the two is about $30,000. Curry has raised $2.27 million while Brown has collected $2.24 million.
Fabien Levy, Brown’s campaign spokesman, attributes the upswing in the mayor’s numbers and downturn in Curry’s to recent advertising pushes.
“I think people are just realizing the mayor has a positive campaign and is putting people first,” said Levy.
Levy said the Brown team did not make a concerted effort in February to boost the campaign’s finances.
“We’ve been doing what we’ve always been doing,” he said.
The Brown fundraising month was headlined by an appearance by former President Bill Clinton, who spoke at a Feb. 19 campaign event at EverBank Field. Levy said the campaign doesn’t discuss how much individual events raise.
The campaign raised the vast majority, $330,000, through its “Taking Jacksonville to the Next Level” state committee. Larger amounts included $50,000 from the American Federation of Teachers; $35,000 from EverBank Financial Corp.; $25,000 each from Wayne Hogan, Stephen Pajcic and the Pajcic & Pajcic firm; and $20,000 from Kim Rutkowski Ward.
On the other side, Curry campaign spokesman Brian Hughes called February a “very good fundraising month” for his team.
“Our fundraising is where we needed it,” he said.
He had no comment on Brown’s month, but said voters have been responding positively to Curry’s outreach efforts.
Most of Curry’s money, almost $106,000, came to his local account while his “Together for a Greater Jacksonville” committee pulled in $83,000.
Hughes did not immediately have figures for Feb. 28, the last day of the month that’s not included in reports.
City Council member Bill Bishop made it just past the $100,000 mark after collecting $18,000 in February.
All three will be on display tonight in the first televised debate leading to the March 24 first election.
Omega Allen, the fourth candidate who qualified, will not be included. WJCT Public Broadcasting, The Florida Times-Union and First Coast News have partnered to present the debate. The group decided to exclude her after it established rules saying participating candidates must have polled at 5 percent or greater in last week’s University of North Florida political poll.
Allen, who polled at 2 percent, protested being left out Wednesday at a news conference.
“I am a qualified candidate, just as qualified as all the others,” she said in a Tuesday interview.
Four years ago, WJCT was the site of a similar debate that had six candidates involved.
Karen Feagins, WJCT vice president of content and operations, said because the news groups are presenting only one debate, they wanted to ensure voters could hear from the major candidates.
The debate runs from 7-8 p.m. and will air on WJCT TV-7 and WJXX TV-25.
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