Sarasota Rep. Vern Buchanan reports $1.52 million cash on hand for campaign

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, continues to build his campaign warchest as his opponents report little to no financial campaign support in the first quarter of 2016, according to documents with the Federal Elections Commission.

Buchanan is running for reelection to his U.S. House seat against Democratic challengers Brent King, an airline pilot, and Jan Schnieder, a Sarasota attorney. The newly drawn district will include all of Manatee County and parts of Hillsborough and Sarasota.

Buchanan currently has about $1.52 million in his campaign after raising $132,590 in the first quarter of 2016, according to campaign filing reports. Buchanan raised $386,575 in the first quarter of 2015 and started the campaign with $724,712, after he ended the 2014 campaign with that much cash on hand. He raised a total of about $1.7 million in the 2014 campaign.

Buchanan spent about $1.1 million in his 2014 campaign against Democratic challenger Henry Lawrence, which he won easily.

By comparison, Brent King has filed no financial disclosures on his campaign and Jan Schneider only lists $25 in cash on hand. Both have said in the past that they don't expect to compete with Buchanan financially.

In the U.S. Senate race, the Federal Elections Commission also does not show any financial disclosures filed by Manatee developer Carlos Beruff. Beruff declared his candidacy at the end of February, later than most candidates.

By comparison, other Republican Senate candidates such as Rep. David Jolly, Rep. Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera have all raised substantial amounts. Jolly rasied just over $1 million, DeSantis more than $2.9 million and Lopez-Cantera with $783,361. Beruff has said his campaign will be mostly self funded.

Kate Irby, Herald online/political reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7055. You can follow her on Twitter@KateIrby

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 8:12 AM with the headline "Sarasota Rep. Vern Buchanan reports $1.52 million cash on hand for campaign ."