Who bankrolls Gruters’ and Kirschner’s run for Congress?

Latest filings reveal stark contrast between the candidates.

By Noah Bookstein

Original Air Date: October 22, 2026

Host: With the midterms just 12 days away, early voting is getting underway across Florida. In the 16th Congressional District, Democrat Kelly Kirschner and Republican Sydney Gruters are in a race that’s turning out closer than expected in a district Florida Republicans recently redrew. Races like this one could decide whether Republicans keep control of Congress, and new campaign finance reports show who’s paying for this one. Noah Bookstein reports.

Noah Bookstein: Mid-October filing deadlines reveal new details about the finances behind key campaigns in the upcoming midterm elections.

Florida’s redrawn CD-16, covering six counties including Manatee County, is closer than expected. The Cook Political Report this week downgraded the district from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican.”

Democrat Kelly Kirschner and Republican Sydney Gruters are vying to replace 10-term Representative Vern Buchanan, who is retiring from his seat. Also running is Mark Davis, without party affiliation.

Kirschner is a former mayor of Sarasota. Gruters is a former Buchanan aide and had a post in the first Trump administration. Most recently, she led the New College Foundation after a DeSantis-led takeover forcefully remade the college into a conservative institution with political allies filling staff positions and maxing out their salaries. Sydney Gruters is also known as the wife of RNC Chair Joe Gruters, who is at the center of the Republican Party’s national fundraising network. 

Through the end of September, the two campaigns were funded in very different ways according to Federal Election Commission filings. Gruters raised most of her $1.5 million from large donors, many giving the maximum allowed, and took in nearly $400,000 from PACs and other political groups, with support from House Republican leaders and national industry.

Kelly Kirschner at Trinity MCC | Courtesy Kirschner for Congress

Kirschner relied on individual, mostly local donors and took in very little PAC money. Kirschner’s campaign has raised about $750,000. He’s spent about half of it, leaving roughly $350,000 in the bank.

His most recent filing period, from the end of July through September, was his strongest yet. He raised at least $400,000, including about $95,000 in the two days right after the August primary. A newer report shows he kept going into October, with about another $100,000 in the first two weeks of the month.

Independent Mark Davis has raised around $60,000, most of it from individual donors.

Of her $1.5 million, Gruters has spent nearly a million, leaving just over six hundred thousand in the bank.

In that same stretch, from the end of July through September, Gruters raised nearly $0.5 million, and about half of it came from PACs and political groups, with a big push in the last two weeks of September. Her report covering early October is due today.

This is how Gruters described her campaign during a virtual debate hosted by the Manatee County League of Women Voters:

Sydney Gruters | Photo: Nic Steinig

Sydney Gruters: I’m happy to have the support of so many individuals. But this is a grassroots campaign. We are out there six days a week working, meeting with voters, hearing their concerns. We are focused on affordability of the cost of living, getting the corruption out of Congress—we don’t need more career politicians—and making sure we keep our community safe.

NB: Gruters’s money leans on big donors and PACs, including from top national Republicans. PACs tied to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Whip Tom Emmer and Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan have all donated, along with more than a dozen other House Republicans. Emmer’s committees alone gave $14,000.

Meanwhile, Kirschner has been added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “districts in play” list, which is a show of confidence from the national party that affords him access to digital infrastructure for fundraising. But he has yet to be added to the DCCC’s crucial Red to Blue list, even after a visit from the program’s co-chair. 

Contributions to Sydney Gruters’ campaign

Outside groups have spent at least $1.6 million supporting Gruters. The biggest is a super PAC called Conservatives for American Excellence. It has received more than $1 million from a political committee bearing her husband’s name, plus millions more from hedge-fund billionaires Ken Griffin and Paul Singer. The second-biggest, Defend American Jobs, is funded by the crypto industry and has spent at least $0.5 million supporting Gruters.

Corporate and industry PACs lined up behind Gruters include FPL’s parent company NextEra, car dealers, home builders, banks, accounting firms and cattle ranchers.

PAC-funded mailers attacking Kirschner

Some of the region’s biggest homebuilders have given heavily, including Carlos Beruff of Medallion Homes, John Cannon of John Cannon Homes, Mori Hosseini of ICI Homes and Pat Neal. Industry groups representing builders, contractors and realtors have added tens of thousands more through their PACs. Other big supporters include Florida trial lawyers and Tallahassee lobbyists such as Brian Ballard.

Money alone does not determine the outcome of elections, but it affects how campaigns are able to get their message out to voters by way of TV ads, mailers and digital outreach. Voters in the 16th Congressional District will decide on November 3.

For WSLR News, Noah Bookstein.

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