From the Register.

Briefs written from the ledger. Every figure is measured from the filings. Summaries are public; the full briefs, with their tables and line-level references, are available to subscribers.

Cycle reportLR-2026-001

The $764 million cycle

Florida's 2026 election has raised $924 million across candidate accounts, federal committees and 1,993 state political committees, $764 million once money that moved between committees is netted out. Committees, not candidates, hold the money: $437 million sits unspent in them with eight weeks to the general.

$764M
net raised in the 2026 cycle: $437M
unspent in state political committees: $102M
raised by the single largest committee, Friends of Byron Donalds: $549M vs $81M
raised by Republican-aligned versus Democratic-aligned accounts, all channels

06 Sep 2026Florida Division of Elections candidate and committee accounts; FEC candidate totals

Vendor marketLR-2026-002

Two firms, $17.6 million: the Florida data and consulting market

Simwins and Data Targeting between them billed $17.6 million to Florida candidates and committees since the 2025 reports began, more than every other data and consulting vendor in the state combined. Simwins serves 83 Republican accounts with media, mail, texting and data bundled into one retainer; Data Targeting's business is the Senate Republican caucus committee, which paid it $5.4 million.

$9.6M
billed by Simwins across 83 candidate and committee accounts: $8.1M
billed by Data Targeting across 35 accounts, $5.4M of it from one caucus committee: 65
candidate campaigns subscribing to Webelect, at a median under $1,500: 100%
of Simwins' and Data Targeting's candidate clients are Republican

06 Sep 2026Expenditure lines on every state candidate and committee account, 2025 to date

Market gapLR-2026-003

72 funded campaigns and no data vendor

Of the 579 contested campaigns on the November ballot for offices with real budgets, 163 have reported money and no payment to any data vendor, and 72 of those hold at least $10,000. They are overwhelmingly State House races, averaging $164,000 in cash, and 43 of the 72 are Republican.

72
funded contested campaigns with $10K+ and no data vendor on any report: $13.6M
cash those 72 campaigns hold: 53
of them are State House races, averaging $164K in cash: 43 / 22 / 7
Republican / Democratic / other

06 Sep 2026Candidate and committee expenditure lines classified by purpose; cash on hand from filed totals