Laura Loomer, a controversial right-wing activist running for Congress in Florida, raked in more money from donors last quarter than the Democratic incumbent in the race.
Federal Election Commission records show Laura Loomer for Congress reported receiving over $154,000 in contributions between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2019.
Rep. Lois Frankel, Florida Democrat, raised around $107,000 during that same span toward her re-election campaign, meanwhile, according to FEC records.
“In no uncertain terms, this race is on,” Ms. Loomer said in a fundraising email Wednesday. “I’ll admit, I was shocked when the numbers came in. I knew we would do well against the competition, but I didn’t expect to raise more than a four-term incumbent Democrat.”
Ms. Frankel’s campaign is hardly running low on funds, however. Her team reported having more than $1.1 million cash on hand as of Sept. 30, per FEC filings.
No other candidate running for Ms. Frankel’s congressional seat came close to raising six figures last quarter. The campaigns for Republicans including Michael J. Bluemling, Christian F. Acosta and Aaron Scanlan each raked in roughly $20,000 or less during the same period, according to FEC records.
Ms. Loomer, 26, describes herself on her campaign website as a conservative investigative journalist and activist. She achieved notoriety in recent years due to a series of controversial comments and stunts that resulted in her banned from some of Silicon Valley’s largest companies well before announcing her candidacy in early August.
Uber and Lyft each banned Ms. Loomer in 2017 after she loudly complained on social media about Muslims driving for either ride-share service; Twitter punted her from its platform last year after she used her account to attack Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat and one of the first Muslims elected to Congress; and Facebook booted her in May for being in violation of the company’s rules against “dangerous” individuals and organization, resulting in her lawyers to file a federal defamation lawsuit seeking more than $3 billion in punitive damages from the social networking service.
Ms. Loomer handcuffed herself to Twitter’s offices in New York after being banned last November, and in January she jumped the fence outside a home belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, to protest her stance on immigration.
More recently, in March Ms. Loomer heckled reporters covering the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, before accordingly having her own press credentials revoked.
Ms. Frankel’s campaign did not immediately return a message requesting comment. Her congressional district, Florida’s 21st, includes Palm Beach and the surrounding area.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.