Lauren Book tops $59K in first 10 days running for SD 30

Former Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book raised over $59,000 in her first 10 days as a candidate for Senate District 30, spending nearly the same amount on early campaign activities for the soon-to-be open seat.

Between May 21, when she filed, and May 31, Book raised $27,400 through her campaign account, which includes a $25,000 self-loan refundable if unspent, and nearly $31,700 through her political committee, Leadership for Florida.

She spent over $54,400 during this period, resulting in a modest net increase to her campaign funds, which now total $2 million.

Book shifted her campaign from a planned 2028 run for independent Sen. Jason Pizzo’s Senate District 37 seat to this year’s race for SD 30, which Sen. Tina Scott Polsky will vacate in November. She relied significantly on family contributions.

She received $10,000 each from her father Ron Book’s lobbying firm, her mother Patricia Book, and lobbyist-philanthropist Guy Spearman III.

Spearman’s government relations firm, Spearman Management, contributed an additional $1,000.

An overwhelming share of her spending was devoted to voter communications, with a $34,700 payment to Plantation-based MDW Communications for direct-mail services accounting for roughly two-thirds of all expenditures.

Beyond mail, Book’s focused on campaign infrastructure and visibility. She paid $3,700 for photography, $2,747 for office expenses, $2,000 for political consulting and $1,100 for media production, while also covering a $1,782 ballot-qualifying fee.

She also spent $5,000 on a sponsorship of the Dolphin Democrats and $500 for Coral Springs Parkland Democratic Club event tickets.

The rest covered accounting expenses.

As of 6 p.m, Thursday, Book had a single qualified opponent: Republican Jerusa Zitta, an insurance professional who has reported raising $7,500 since filing in January — $1,650 of it marked as self-loans.

All but $725 of Zitta’s gains came from people or donors who did not share her last name. Her two non-family related donations came from Westlake property manager Theodore Sarandis and his political committee, MAGA Caucus FL PC.

The PC’s Treasurer, Jamie Sarandis, is also Zitta’s Treasurer, and both list a St. Petersburg P.O. Box as their address on the Division of Elections website.

SD 30 covers part of Boca Raton in Palm Beach County and all or part of Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach, Lighthouse Point, Margate, North Lauderdale, Parkland and Pompano Beach in Broward.

The Primary Election is on Aug. 18, followed by the General Election on Nov. 3.