Fundraising rematch has lost its spark

Canova off to anemic financial start in campaign against Wasserman Schultz

The name Debbie Wasserman Schultz once was fundraising gold — generating millions of dollars for challenger Tim Canova’s effort to oust her from Congress.

No more. Campaign filings show Canova is off to an anemic financial start in his rematch with Wasserman Schultz.

He had just $5,157 cash in his campaign account at the beginning of 2018, the latest disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show. Canova also reported debts of $35,000, mostly personal cash he lent to his campaign.

Wasserman Schultz had more than 75 times as much cash on hand at the beginning of the election year — $389,895 — and no debt.

The candidates’ financial standing is far different from 2016, the first time Canova challenged Wasserman Schultz in the Democratic primary in the Broward/Miami-Dade county 23rd Congressional District.

In the first 12 weeks of the last campaign, Canova raised $538,000. He had $461,000 cash in the bank on March 31, 2016. In the first 28 weeks of his current campaign, Federal Election Commission filings show Canova has raised $150,000.

Wasserman Schultz, serving her seventh term, is still “definitely a very polarizing figure,” said Kevin Wagner, a political scientist at Florida Atlantic University. But, largely because of President Donald Trump, Wagner said the political environment approaching the 2018 elections is far different than it was in 2016.

In the last election, Canova harnessed anti-establishment progressives and supporters of U.S. Sen.