The two-term Republican senator hauled in a grand total of $6 million in fundraising during the July-September third quarter of fundraising, as seen in figures shared first with Fox News on Wednesday.
Rubio’s fundraising over the past three months has seen an increase from the $4 million he brought in during the April-June second quarter, and brings to nearly $12 million the amount he’s raised so far this year for this 2022 reelection campaign.
Rubio, who was first elected to the Senate in the 2010 Tea Party wave and grabbed loads of national attention during his unsuccessful 2016 GOP presidential nomination bid, also reported an impressive $9.6 million cash on hand in his campaign coffers as of the beginning of October. The senator’s campaign highlighted that Rubio’s third quarter haul is nearly double what any GOP senator up for reelection raised during the third quarter of 2019, the comparable quarter in the 2020 cycle.
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Rep. Val Demings of Florida, who made history as Orlando’s first female police chief before entering politics, is the leading Democratic candidate aiming to challenge Rubio next year. Demings, who has yet to announce her third quarter numbers, brought in $4.6 million just in the first three weeks of her campaign, from her launch in early June through the end of the second quarter. Candidates running for federal offices have until Oct. 15 to file their third-quarter reports with the Federal Election Commission.
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The burgeoning Florida Senate battle, which could be one of the handful of crucial contests to decide which party controls the chamber, will be taking place in a state with nearly 22 million people spread out over 10 media markets.
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"Both parties are going to invest heavily in Florida," University of Florida political science professor Michael McDonald told Fox News earlier this year. "It could be one of the most expensive U.S. Senate races in history given the trajectory that we’ve seen in increasing amounts of money flowing into elections."
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The total price tag – campaign and outside spending alike – for Rubio’s 2016 reelection victory over then-Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy was nearly $110 million, a significantly large sum at the time.
But the Sunshine State’s 2018 Senate race, when then-Republican Gov. Rick Scott edged out incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, was nearly double the cost, with roughly $205 million spent by the candidates, parties and outside groups.
That very race was the most expensive in history, until last year when spending in the Senate race in North Carolina topped $280 million, smashing the Florida record.
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