Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
All eyes on Florida prize
Rubio, Murphy Senate race attracts big dollars
With control of the U.S. Senate at stake, money pouring into the race between Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy is outpacing Florida’s past congressional elections.
Rubio’s campaign has raised about $20 million and Murphy’s campaign raised $11 million through Sept. 30, according to recent filings to the Federal Election Commission.
For Rubio, that’s already more than the $17.2 million he raised in his initial run for Senate in 2010, according to the commission.
And it’s also more than the nearly $17 million Sen. Bill Nelson raised in his 2012 re-election race, according to federal records.
The money keeps flowing into this year’s race because both Republicans and Democrats think winning Florida’s seat can help them win control of the Senate, according to David Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics.
“Florida is probably one of the biggest competitive states. There are a lot of media markets all over the state. It costs a lot money to run in Florida,” said Keating, whose organization advocates for easing limits on
campaign spending.
Murphy and Rubio will meet for a second debate at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Broward College in Davie.
The influx of money into the Senate race is paying for dueling TV ads, campaign mailers, social media campaigns and other outreach efforts aimed at reaching voters from the Panhandle to the Keys.
With polls showing the race tightening, how much of that advertising push and get-out-the-vote effort the two campaigns can afford to continue could determine who wins the most votes on Nov. 8.
“If a campaign wants a saturation advertising campaign across all of the Florida media markets, they need to plan to spend millions,” said Kevin Wagner, a political science professor at Florida Atlantic University. “Campaigns also want to spend on grassroots campaigning such as door knocking.”
Rubio’s late re-election start — filing just before the June deadline, months after dropping his presidential bid — hasn’t kept the Republican from taking the fundraising lead over Murphy, a two-term Democratic congressman from Jupiter.
After campaign spending through Sept. 30, Rubio’s campaign had $5.5 million in “cash on hand,” compared to about $2.8 million for Murphy, according to the Federal Election Commission.
“Marco’s late entrance meant we had to set up a campaign and raise funds much more quickly than normal,” Rubio’s press secretary Olivia Perez-Cubas said. “But thanks to thousands of supporters, we’ve been able to quickly raise the resources we need to run a competitive campaign and feel very good where we are at as we enter the final stretch.”
Some of Rubio’s top contributors through September include Goldman Sachs ($79,800), the hedge fund Elliot Management ($72,900) and sugar producer Fanjul Corp. ($72,660), according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group tracking campaign finances.
Some of Murphy’s biggest contributors through September included the pro-Israel group JStreet-PAC ($72,898), the law firm Morgan & Morgan ($72,400) and his father’s company Coastal Construction Group ($66,967), according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In addition to their own fundraising, Rubio and Murphy are both getting big campaign spending boosts from political action committees overseen by supporters who don’t face the same fundraising limits as the candidates.
For example, the Senate Leadership Fund (which backs Republican Senate candidates) has spent $1.5 million and National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action has spent $1.3 million to help Rubio try to beat Murphy, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Likewise the Senate Majority PAC (which backs Democratic Senate candidates) has spent $1 million trying to help Murphy get elected, along with about $289,000 spent by the Immigrant Voters Win PAC and $207,000 spent by the Service Employees International Union Committee on Political Education, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Murphy’s father, Thomas Murphy Jr., has used Super PAC’s to help fund his son’s campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission. That includes in July giving $1 million to the Senate Majority PAC.
Murphy has made his support for campaign finance reform an issue in the Senate race. He calls for legislative action to end the unlimited spending on campaign advertising by corporations, unions and other special interest groups that was allowed by a 2010 Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case.
Rubio’s campaign contributions show he “is in the pocket of the wealthy and special interests,” Murphy campaign spokeswoman Galia Slayen said.
“Unlike Rubio, Patrick is committed to passing campaign finance reform and believes that all Americans deserve an equal say in our elections, not just the wealthy and special interests,” Slayen said.
Yet it’s “hypocrisy” for Murphy to be calling for campaign finance reform while getting so much campaign help from his father through outside fundraising groups, Rubio campaign spokesman Michael Ahrens said.
“Patrick Murphy tells voters how much he ‘hates super PACS,’ but he’s been benefiting from millions in super PAC donations from his father at the exact same time,” Ahrens said.
Keating, of the Center for Competitive Politics, said the outside money isn’t likely going to change how Rubio and Murphy would act if elected. Instead, the money and where it comes from gives an indication of how the candidates’ existing positions on the issues, he said.
“It’s pretty unlikely that either one is going to change their views on the issues,” Keating said.
With early voting underway in Florida and the candidates and their supporters still fundraising, ballots will be cast before voters can find out from campaign filings everyone who paid for all those Rubio and Murphy TV ads and mailers.
In a state the size of Florida, the advertising spending boost from outside groups “can be a big advantage to a campaign,” said Wagner, of Florida Atlantic University.
“There is always a concern that significant donations can influence politicians and legislation,” Wagner said. “This race is no different.”