Snubbed By Big Donors, Paul Renner’s Fundraising Drops

Former House Speaker Paul Renner is finding it more difficult to raise money in 2026 than he did in 2025, suggesting that the Palm Coast Republican will need a lot of grassroots support if he intends to compete with front-runner Byron Donalds in the race for Governor.

Meanwhile, he’s spending it faster than it comes in, suggesting a “now or never” campaign strategy that has not paid off in opinion polls, some of which find him in fourth place among the major candidates to succeed Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The burn rate is especially acute on the political committee level.

“Friends of Paul Renner” did top $700,000 in fundraising in Q1 (with $500,000 of that contributed by Jacksonville’s Jack Demetree and Petro Services).

Yet more than $1.8 million was spent over the same three month period, with more than $1.5 million going to Miami’s One on One Communications for media production and placement. The vast majority of that was spent in March.

The account has more than $3.5 million on hand.

Renner raised more than $96,000 to his campaign account during the quarter also, but spent almost $80,000 of that, leaving less than $200,000 cash on hand. More than $30,000 of the Q1 spend went to IFA Strategies of Arlington, VA, for research.

With a little more than four months until the Primary, Renner faces headwinds. Not only did U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds raise more money than him this quarter, bringing in $22 million, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins more than doubled his haul over the same period.

Like Collins, Renner has run a campaign effectively promising to continue what Gov. Ron DeSantis has done, spotlighting the current Governor’s praise for his speakership. But given the structural issues revealed in this fundraising report, it’s hard not to shake off DeSantis saying when Renner launched that the campaign was ill-advised.

The ultimate proof that Renner’s team realizes the results are underwhelming is in the framing of the reports filed Friday versus the ones filed encompassing last year’s activity though.

Back in January, the Renner campaign spotlighted having raised roughly $5.5 million during the first four months of the campaign.

They said it reflected “strong enthusiasm from conservative donors, grassroots supporters and business leaders who recognize Renner’s record of leadership, fiscal responsibility, and commitment to conservative values.”

But spending is up and fundraising is down this quarter and the campaign did not promote this report with a press release, filing on the day it was due rather than ahead of the deadline.

–A.G. Gancarski, Florida Politics