Latest campaign finance reports show late spending, PAC activity ahead of Manatee primary

Manatee County voters heading to the polls Tuesday have access to one final round of campaign-finance reports showing how candidates for county commission raised and spent money in the final days before Primary Election Day.

The latest reports cover Aug. 1 through Aug. 13 and were due Friday, Aug. 14—four days before voters’ last day to head to the polls.

Across the county commission races, the filings show a mix of last-minute individual contributions, candidate self-funding, political action committee (PAC) donations, and significant expenditures on mail, digital advertising, and consulting.

District 1

Republican Adam Johnson reported the highest amount of new contributions in the latest reporting period, with $7,385. Of that amount, $5,000 was a contribution from Johnson to his own campaign. His filing lists his occupation as “Influencer.”

Johnson reported 14 new individual contributions, including his own. Nine of the contributors were located outside of the state, with another coming from outside Manatee County. Three were local donors.

Among the local contributions were two maximum $1,000 donations his campaign received from Jennings Lawton DePriest and DePriest's wife. DePriest is a political operative who has publicly described himself as a “professional propagandist” and works in areas including direct mail, text messaging, PACs, and voter targeting. Johnson and DePriest have publicly described themselves as friends and have credited DePriest with helping Johnson with his campaign.

DePriest also chairs the America Only PAC, which has sponsored text messages and mail pieces promoting Johnson in the District 1 race.

Republican Mark Stanoch reported $2,800 from four individual contributions.

Two of the contributions were $1,000 donations from political action committees: the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange PAC (GCBX) and Tea Party Manatee PAC. The GCBX is chaired by Jason Swift, and its registered agent and treasurer are lobbyist David Ramba. The Tea Party PAC is registered locally with the Manatee SOE Office and is chaired by Jack May, who lives outside of District 1 but filed as a write-in candidate in the race.

Among his contributions, Stanoch reported a $500 individual contribution from state Rep. William Conerly. He also reported another $500 in-kind contribution from his wife and campaign treasurer, for accounting services.

Republican Liz Arnold reported receiving three additional contributions from local residents totaling $1,000 in the most recent period.

Republican Leland Taylor reported one additional $150 individual contribution from a local attorney.

Republican John Dunn reported little change, with only minimal in-kind contributions he made to his own campaign.

Republican Michael Harrison reported no new activity during the latest period. His previous filing showed he had lent another $340 to his campaign.

Democrat Sari Lindroos-Valimaki, who is unopposed in the primary, reported five new individual contributions totaling $220. All five contributions came from local residents.

For more details and additional earlier reporting covering District 1 candidates and campaign financing, click here. 

District 2

Republican Ed Baily reported one new $250 individual contribution received from a Bradenton resident.

Republican incumbent Commissioner Amanda Ballard reported $1,645 in new individual contributions, including a $1,000 contribution from Marshall Gobuty, the residential developer behind Pearl Homes. Gobuty may be best known locally for his ongoing legal battle over control of a canal in Cortez that connects to the Intracoastal Waterway

Ballard also reported more than $14,000 in campaign expenditures between Aug. 3 and Aug. 12. More than $9,700 of that went toward direct mail, text messaging and Google advertising.

Ballard's campaign was not the only political operation supporting her reelection effort to report significant activity during the period.

The recently formed Government Reform and Integrity Taskforce PAC, or GRIT PAC, formed by Ballard's husband, David Ballard, on July 29, reported receiving $31,500 during the latest reporting period. David Ballard also serves as his wife's campaign treasurer, according to public records.

The PAC reported three $10,500 contributions from political committees that share a Tallahassee address.

The filings show those committees are connected to Tallahassee lobbyist David Ramba through their chairs, registered agents, or treasurers.

The Voters for Economic Growth PAC, chaired by Ramba, reported receiving a $25,000 contribution from Ramba's Strong Communities of Southwest Florida PAC on July 31. On Aug. 4, Voters for Economic Growth then made a $10,500 contribution to the GRIT PAC.

The Coalition for Better Care PAC, of which Ramba is chair, registered agent, and treasurer, reported receiving $45,000 from the Optometry PAC on Aug. 4.

Though Ramba is not listed as associated with the Optometry PAC, the committee shares the same Tallahassee address as several other committees associated with Ramba—120 South Monroe Street.

The Optometry PAC subsequently reported contributing $10,500 to Ballard’s GRIT PAC and $20,000 to the Friends of Mike Rahn PAC.

The Greater Florida Leadership Group, another Ramba-controlled PAC, reported receiving $50,000 from Ramba's Strong Communities of Southwest Florida PAC on July 20. It subsequently made a $10,500 contribution to Ballard’s GRIT PAC on July 31 and a $50,000 contribution to the Friends of Mike Rahn PAC on Aug. 5.

Ballard’s GRIT PAC reported $22,406 in expenditures during the latest reporting period, including more than $21,000 in direct-mail services, as well as spending on domain registration and Google advertising.

Democrat Charles Smith, who is unopposed in the primary, reported one new $100 individual contribution.

For more details and additional earlier reporting covering District 2 candidates and campaign financing, click here. 

District 4

Glen Gibelina reported no new contributions during the period but reported nearly $4,000 in campaign expenditures for postcards.

Incumbent Mike Rahn reported $5,600 in new contributions and $15,362 in campaign expenditures.

Rahn received four $1,000 contributions during the period from two businesses, an individual and a political action committee.

One of those contributions came from Marshall Gobuty of Pearl Homes. Another $1,000 contribution came from the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange PAC, which also contributed $1,000 to Stanoch's District 1 campaign during the same reporting period.

Rahn also reported receiving a $500 contribution from Nicholas Grant, who listed a Fort Myers address.

Grant is the son of former Florida state Rep. Michael Grant and is a partner at the Florida lobbying and consulting firm The Southern Group. According to his LinkedIn, he previously worked as a political consultant with Strategic Image Management, the Tampa-based political consulting firm of Anthony Pedicini and Tom Piccolo.

Of Rahn's $15,362 in reported expenditures, $15,278 went to Three Seas Consulting LLC, a Tallahassee consulting firm registered to Nicholas Catroppo.

Campaign-finance records for other local candidates also show payments to Catroppo's firm, including the campaign of state House candidate Jordan Varnadore.

For more details and additional earlier reporting covering District 4 candidates and campaign financing, click here. 

At-Large District 6

Tara Poulton reported $2,500 in new monetary contributions.

Her contributors included the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange PAC, which gave $500, and the Focused on Florida's Future PAC, which gave the maximum $1,000 contribution.

The Focused on Florida's Future PAC reported receiving two contributions totaling $55,000 during July and August, with all of its reported contributions coming from other political committees. One of those contributions was $25,000 from Ramba's Strong Communities of Southwest Florida PAC.

Poulton's campaign reported $25,444 in expenditures during the period, including spending on direct mail, printing and campaign consulting. Payments for consulting went to the same firm paid by Rahn, Catroppo’s Three Seas Consulting based in Tallahassee.

Ed Ference reported $1,650 from five individual contributions ranging from $50 to $500. The donors included local residents, a Sarasota-based investor, and two engineers who listed Tampa addresses.

Ference reported $1,822 in campaign expenditures, including approximately $1,700 for cards and multimedia messaging services.

John Calovich reported no new contributions.

Tony Barrett reported no new contributions or expenditures.

Democrat Reggie Bellamy, who is unopposed in the primary, reported one $100 individual contribution from a Northwest Bradenton resident.

For more details and additional earlier reporting covering the at-large District 6 candidates and campaign financing, click here.

The latest filings offer voters a final look at the funding flowing through the county commission races leading up to Tuesday's primary, but the candidates' campaign-finance reports tell only part of the story of the money being spent to influence county commission races.

Several political committees have also been sending text messages, mailers, and other communications promoting or attacking candidates. Because those communications are paid for by PACs rather than directly by the candidates' campaigns, the committees' own financial filings provide another trail for voters to follow.

The PACs

The America Only PAC has sent numerous text messages and mail pieces supporting District 1 candidate Adam Johnson, including handwritten letters delivered to voters. The PAC is chaired by Jennings DePriest.

America Only reported just one contribution in July: $10,000 from an organization identified in the Florida Division of Elections filings as the Alliance of Local Leaders.

That contribution raises questions about the source of the money behind the PAC's spending, because the Alliance of Local Leaders gives an address of 30 North Gould Street, Suite R, in Sheridan, Wyoming. Wyoming corporate records identify a person named Jennings DePriest as president and director of the entity.

A separate nonprofit organization called Alliance of Local Leaders exists in California, but the California organization is not the entity identified in America Only's Florida campaign-finance filing.

The result is a $10,000 contribution to a PAC chaired by DePriest from a Wyoming entity whose corporate records also identify DePriest as its president and director. The filings appear intended to obscure the source of the $10,000 behind America Only's spending on communications supporting Johnson.

America Only is one of several Florida political committees currently chaired by DePriest. The Florida Division of Elections lists him as chairman of multiple active PACs.

The Friends of Mike Rahn PAC is chaired by incumbent candidate Commissioner Mike Rahn, with David Ramba serving as its treasurer and registered agent.

The PAC has received money from other political committees associated with Ramba.

Since earlier reporting examined the committee's finances, Friends of Mike Rahn has reported receiving another $90,000 in contributions, with the money coming from four other PACs: the Protect Our Neighborhoods, the Greater Florida Leadership Group, the Coalition for Better Care, and the Floridians for Positive Change.

Another PAC, the Christian Family Coalition of Manatee, has also been active in the county commission races, sending mass text messages promoting Mike Rahn, Amanda Ballard, and Tara Poulton, as well as messages promoting candidates the group identifies as its “qualified” or endorsed candidates.

The group has recently drawn attention in reporting by our publication over its political activity and connections to a complaint filed against District 1 candidate Liz Arnold.

Another District 1 candidate, Mark Stanoch, has received support from at least two political committees that have sent communications promoting his campaign: Nature Coast Conservatives and Taxpayers for Term Limits.

There are two similarly named committees in the Florida DOE database: the Nature Coast Conservatives, which is registered as an Electioneering Communications Organization and is operated by Mark Zubaly, and the Nature Coast Conservative Coalition, which is a PAC chaired by Charles Dean Jr., with David Ramba serving as its treasurer and registered agent.

The distinction matters because the committees are separate legal entities despite their similar names.

The volume of political mail and text messages that have arrived in voters' homes and phones during the final days of the 2026 Primary Election cycle can be overwhelming, and so can understanding who funded those communications. 

When a mailer, text campaign, or other political communication identifies a PAC rather than a candidate's campaign as its sponsor, the PAC's financial disclosures can provide another way for voters to educate themselves about who is funding the effort—that is, if voters have access to this information before heading to the polls.

Dawn Kitterman is a staff reporter and investigative journalist for The Bradenton Times covering local government news. She can be reached at dawn.kitterman@thebradentontimes.com.