Carla Spalding has emerged as a new force in the universe of people who want to take down congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.   Spalding, who has styled herself as a passionate supporter of President Donald Trump and is supported by some controversial backers, raised more money than Wasserman Schultz — and more than all of the other challengers combined.   Spalding raised $213,000 in the first quarter of 2018. Wasserman Schultz reported this week to the Federal Election Commission that she raised $208,000 in the three months that ended March 31.   The Democratic incumbent still has a huge overall money advantage — more cash and no debt.   Despite her fundraising strength in the most recent quarter, Spalding doesn’t have the kind of cash she’d need to mount a serious advertising campaign in the expensive Miami-Fort Lauderdale television market.   Neither does anyone else.   Tim Canova quitting Democratic Party, still plans Wasserman Schultz challenge     Tim Canova, who recently abandoned his plan for a rematch against Wasserman Schultz in the Democratic primary and is running in November as a no party affiliation candidate, struggled with fundraising in the first quarter of 2018. Canova raised $58,000 in the first quarter but spent even more. Records show he had a cash balance of $10,758 at the end of the quarter. The reason he has that much: $10,000 in new loans of his own money to the campaign.   Carlos Reyes, who launched his campaign for the Republican nomination with a plan to raise millions of dollars, also has run into fundraising problems. He took in $49,252 in the most recent quarter — and spent more than double that amount. The only reason he showed a cash balance of $32,045 on March 31 is $33,000 of loans he gave his campaign during the first quarter.   The Broward/Miami-Dade County 23rd Congressional District is solidly Democratic. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the district as “D+11.” That means it preformed 11 points more Democratic than the nation as a whole in the last two presidential contests.   Three Republicans have a dream of defeating Wasserman Schultz     And the flow of money shows that the big-money donors don’t see the district as competitive. Combined, five candidates raised $535,000 in the first quarter.   By contrast, the three candidates in the much closer 18th Congressional District in northern Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, collected a combined $1.3 million in the first quarter.   Carla Spalding She’s been making the rounds of Republican events — and appealing to some of the most conservative, anti-establishment parts of the Republican Party. She recently tweeted support for Trump, whom she called “an outstanding world leader!” and criticism of James Comey, the FBI director fired by Trump, whom Spalding said “is not a real man on my list. He is a coward!”   Spalding has been repeatedly featured on the controversial Infowars conspiracy-theory website, whose founder is notorious for repeatedly claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre — in which 26 children and adults were killed — is a hoax perpetrated by opponents of the Second Amendment.   She’s also been promoted by Roger Stone, the Fort Lauderdale political operator who’s an adviser to Trump and was an adviser to former President Richard Nixon. During one of Stone’s interviews with Spalding on Infowars, he incorrectly stated Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is in the district she hopes to represent; Spalding didn’t correct him.   Wasserman Schultz challenger Tim Canova offers conspiracy theories     She has some establishment support. She was endorsed this month by Stanley Tate, the Florida real estate developer, philanthropist, big-time Republican political contributor and founder of Florida’s pre-paid college tuition program. Tate so dislikes Wasserman Schultz that he spurred the cancellation of an invitation for her to speak at Temple Israel of Greater Miami during the 2012 election season.   Spalding, a nurse and teacher, has been running in the 23rd Congressional District for months, but she’s a recent transplant to the district from Palm Beach County. Voter registration records show she switched her voter registration to Plantation, in the district, on Dec. 29.   During the 2016 campaign, Spalding ran as a Republican candidate in the district now represented by Brian Mast, R-Palm City. She ended up running as a no party affiliation candidate for the job and received 3 percent of the vote.   Spalding raised $212,782, spent $139,362, and ended the quarter with $85,057 in cash.   Tim Canova Harnessing energy and financial contributions from anti-establishment progressives and supporters of unsuccessful presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Canova mounted a strong challenge to Wasserman Schultz in the 2016 Democratic primary.   He received 43 percent of the vote in the August 2016 primary, a result he never accepted. He’s devoted much of his energy to sowing doubts about the outcome. He’s also advocated progressive policy ideas.   Unable to recreate the energy — and funding — of the 2016 effort, he announced on April 2 he was calling off his plan to challenge Wasserman Schultz in the Democratic primary, and said he would run as a no party affiliation candidate in November.   Canova, a Hollywood resident, is a professor of law and public finance at Nova Southeastern University. Voter registration records show he changed his party from Democratic to NPA on April 11.   Financial records show Canova is raising far less than in his last effort, when he had $461,000 cash in the bank on March 31, 2016.   In the first quarter of 2018, Canova raised $58,064, spent $62,463 and had a cash balance of $10,758 on March 31. Canova’s campaign is $45,000 in debt from money he’s loaned to his campaign committee.   Carlos Reyes Reyes launched his campaign with a lavish kickoff party at the Signature Grand in Davie late last summer. He outlined an ambitious fundraising goal: $5 million for the primary and general election.   Reyes, of Davie, is a well-known attorney in Republican Party circles and a former governor-appointed member of the South Broward Hospital District, the government agency that runs the Memorial Healthcare System. And he started with strong fundraising: $101,000 in seven weeks.   Since then, his fundraising has slowed significantly. He’s kept the operation afloat with $63,000 in loans of his own money.   Debbie Wasserman Schultz The Weston Democrat is serving her seventh term in the House. She’s well known in South Florida, where she was elected to her first office in 1992.   After winning 57 percent of the vote in the August 2016 Democratic primary, Wasserman Schultz won the November election with 57 percent of the vote.   She raised $208,198 and spent $183,564 in the first quarter of 2018. Wasserman Schultz’s cash balance on March 31 was $417,761.   Other candidates Joe Kaufman, who has run as a Republican candidate for Congress in 2012, 2014 and 2016, has done little fundraising for his 2018 effort.   He raised $7,093 and spent $5,416 in the first quarter. Because of money left over from his previous campaigns, Kaufman had $390,853 in his campaign coffers on March 31, along with $89,863 in debts.   The counter-terrorism researcher, writer and lecturer lives in Tamarac, which is outside the district. Living outside the district is legal. The Constitution requires only that a member of Congress live in the state.   Three other candidates have filed paperwork declaring they’re interested in running; none filed reports indicating they’ve raised or spent any money.

PLANTATION, FL — Today, Carla Spalding, Republican candidate for Congress (FL-23), released the following statement regarding the arrest, investigation, and charges filed against Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) Congressional Informational Technology (IT) aide Imran Awan:    "I am deeply concerned at the reports that a long-time aide in the Office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has been arrested at the airport attempting to flee the country and is under investigation for crimes against the United States.   There are so many questions that Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz has to answer; what type of information did her aide have access to, did he transfer or enable access to any classified or sensitive information to our enemies, did he give any of the defrauded funds to terrorists, are there other crimes for which Awan was under investigation, and since Capitol Police publicly identified her aide as the leader of a criminal network back in February, why did Wasserman-Schultz fire him just yesterday?"   If there was a security breach of Congress by Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz's aide, then anyone involved in or having knowledge of the crime must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. I trust our law enforcement agents will conduct a thorough investigation and get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, I call on Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to step out of the shadows and come clean about what she knows."   The American people deserve to hear the truth straight from Wasserman-Schultz. If her own staff can't be trusted with Congress's email system, then we can't trust her in Congress."   On Monday, the Daily Caller released an investigative report that FBI agents had raided the home of Imran Awan, a Pakistani-born IT aide for Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), where they discovered several smashed computer hard-drives. On Tuesday night, Fox News reported that Awan was arrested at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. attempting to flee the United States to Pakistan. According to federal investigators, the Wasserman-Schultz aide was at the center of a network involved in defrauding the U.S. government of millions of dollars, some of which Awan and his network transferred overseas to countries with ties to terrorism.

PLANTATION, FL – Today, Carla Spalding, Republican candidate for Congress in Florida’s 23rd District, released the following statement regarding the recent violence, racial tension, and division at events across the United States:   “I am saddened and deeply troubled by the recent actions and violence that has erupted across the United States, from Charlottesville, Virginia to events this past weekend. There is no place in our society for the hate, intolerance, racism, and  bigotry being perpetrated by neo-Nazi, Klu Klux Klan, and other white supremacist groups. I condemn these groups in the strongest possible terms.   “We are a nation of laws, and I am a firm believer in our Constitution, particularly the First Amendment. Americans have a constitutional right to peaceful assembly, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. However, we must speak out with clarity that violence, racism, and bigotry is not acceptable. Hate speech and incitement to violence is not free speech, it is domestic terrorism. Attempts to divide Americans along racial or other discriminatory lines are dangerous and have serious repercussions.    “As a veteran, I follow in the footsteps of brave men and women who wore the uniform to defend America and our allies from the evil scourge of Nazi-ism, fascism, and communism in the 20th century. Having defeated this evil abroad in the last century, it is deeply concerning to see signs of its re-emergence today in our homeland. This evil has many faces, takes many forms, and is all around us. It never really goes away, which is why we must be vigilant and demonstrate the resolve that makes America so great. I know deep down that America always has been and always will be on the side of good.   “I am a proud American and a proud Republican. We represent the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, who ended slavery and ended communism, respectively. The Republican Party has rose to the challenge of leading our great nation to prosperity in the most dangerous times and I am confident that we will do so again.   “Now more than ever, our elected leaders need to work together to solve our common problems and find ways to unite the American people. In fact, that is precisely why I decided to run for Congress. As a nurse, it is my job to heal the sick, aide the infirm, and provide care for the mentally ill. When our leaders fail to advance these principles, the people feel voiceless, powerless, left-behind, and alone. I believe that this lack of leadership is at the core of the racial tension and division that we are witnessing today.    “So where is Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in this process? Rather than taking steps to unite our communities, heal our divisions, and work together for the common good, she is trying to capitalize politically on these divisions and is making statements to distract Americans from her own scandals and potentially criminal behavior. It is disappointing, but not that surprising, that Debbie Wasserman Schultz is taking this opportunity to shift the focus away from the national security breach that may have occurred in her Capitol Hill office. But she doesn’t fool me and she isn’t fooling the people here in District 23.   “Debbie Wasserman Schultz is part of the problem and she offers zero solutions. Rather than fueling the division in America, we need leaders in Congress who will take steps to heal our communities, unite our people, and work to make life better for all Americans. I intend to bring that vision of pro-active leadership, problem solving, compassion, and resolve to Congress.”