2026 race

FL-19 — U.S. House

11 active candidates on file with the FEC. Incumbent: Byron Donalds.

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Currently held by

Byron Donalds (R) — not seeking re-election in 2026. They've publicly announced their retirement; their committee is still on the FEC's 2026 roster for routine compliance, but this is effectively an open seat.

Election day

135days

Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Make sure you can vote

Disclosed money in race

$9.8M

Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.

Incumbent

Currently in office

Byron Donalds

IncumbentFEC H2FL14186

Raised this cycle$736K

Cash on hand: $419K

View record Compare Campaign site

Challengers

Sorted by fundraising

James Oberweis

ChallengerFEC H6FL19129

Raised this cycle$4.4M

Cash on hand: $3.0M

Campaign site

Jim Schwartzel

ChallengerFEC H6FL19137

Raised this cycle$1.7M

Cash on hand: $1.5M

Catalina Lauf

ChallengerFEC H6FL19186

Raised this cycle$975K

Cash on hand: $390K

Campaign site

Chris Collins

ChallengerFEC H6FL19228

Raised this cycle$910K

Cash on hand: $306K

Campaign site

Madison Cawthorn

ChallengerFEC H6FL19178

Raised this cycle$520K

Cash on hand: $233K

Campaign site

Ola Nesheswat Hawatmeh

ChallengerFEC H6FL19160

Raised this cycle$379K

Cash on hand: $241K

Campaign site

John Strand

ChallengerFEC H6FL19194

Raised this cycle$83K

Cash on hand: $18K

Campaign site

Mike Pedersen

ChallengerFEC H6FL19145

Raised this cycle$56K

Cash on hand: $23K

Campaign site

Howard Sapp

ChallengerFEC H6FL19111

Raised this cycle$32K

Cash on hand: $-2,732

Victor Arias

ChallengerFEC H6FL19277

Raised this cycle$23K

Cash on hand: $19K

Campaign site

Local signal

Early read on FL-19 — U.S. House

A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.

Coverage tone · leans positive

Recent news coverage of Byron Donalds over the last 90 days.

2 positive16 neutral1 negative

19 articles · AI-assessed sentiment toward the rep. A media signal, not a poll of the district.

Constituent stakes

No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.

Money in the race

Finance breakdown

Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.

Total disclosed

$9.8M

Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).

Candidate-direct (Schedule A)

$9.8M

Raised by candidate committees themselves.

Outside spending (Schedule E)

No outside spending reported yet.

Candidate	Raised directly	Outside for	Outside against	Net in corner
James Oberweis(R)	$4.4M	—	—	$4.4M
Jim Schwartzel(R)	$1.7M	—	—	$1.7M
Catalina Lauf(R)	$975K	—	—	$975K
Chris Collins(R)	$910K	—	—	$910K
Byron Donalds(R)incumbent	$736K	—	—	$736K
Madison Cawthorn(R)	$520K	—	—	$520K
Ola Nesheswat Hawatmeh(R)	$379K	—	—	$379K
John Strand(R)	$83K	—	—	$83K
Mike Pedersen(R)	$56K	—	—	$56K
Howard Sapp(D)	$32K	—	—	$32K
Victor Arias(D)	$23K	—	—	$23K

Where the money comes from

In-state vs out-of-state

Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside FL versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.

James Oberweis(R)61% in-state · $260K itemized

$158K in-state$102K out-of-state

Jim Schwartzel(R)83% in-state · $717K itemized

$596K in-state$122K out-of-state

Catalina Lauf(R)21% in-state · $394K itemized

$83K in-state$311K out-of-state

Byron Donalds(R)45% in-state · $348K itemized

$159K in-state$190K out-of-state

What's counted, what isn't

Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.

Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.

In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.

Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.

About this race page

Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.

Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.

News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.