Club for Growth PAC Endorses Michael Carbonara in FL-22 Race

Washington, D.C. – Club for Growth PAC endorsed Michael Carbonara in Florida’s 22^nd Congressional District. Carbonara, a fintech entrepreneur, is running in the open seat after incumbent Democrat Lois Frankel announced she would run in Florida’s 23^rd District following redistricting. Caroline Vakil covered the release as an exclusive report in The Hill.

“Michael Carbonara is a self-made entrepreneur and the embodiment of the American dream,” said Club for Growth President David McIntosh. “In Congress, Carbonara will champion innovation for emerging technologies, slash burdensome regulations that harm business, and oppose any tax increase. We are proud to support his campaign.”

In addition to the endorsement, Club for Growth Action released a new ad in the race, informing voters about Casey Askar’s FEC conspiracy complaint and his attempt to sue Byron Donalds after his 2020 primary loss in Florida’s 19^th Congressional District. The new ad is part of a $700,000 ad buy and will air across the district leading up to the August 19^th election.

Click here to watch the full ad, Sore, from Club for Growth Action.

Click here to read the full coverage in The Hill.

Club for Growth PAC is affiliated with Club for Growth Action, the nation’s largest conservative Super PAC. In 2024, Club for Growth PAC endorsed candidates won 79% of their elections.

STORY EXCERPTS:

The conservative Club for Growth Action announced Tuesday that it’s endorsing businessman Michael Carbonara in the crowded Republican primary for a newly drawn House seat in Florida, according to plans first shared with The Hill.

The new seat, the redrawn 22nd Congressional District, stretches from West Palm Beach to Delray Beach and favors Republicans by 4 percentage points, according to the nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report. 

The conservative political group is backing Carbonara, who is running against six other Republicans for the party nod ahead of Tuesday’s primary. His most serious challenger is Keiser University vice chancellor Belinda Keiser.

The group also launched its first ad of the primary, notably attacking real estate executive Casey Askar in the GOP contest.

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Club for Growth Action noted that the ad is a part of a $700,000 buy and will air across the district heading into next Tuesday.

Askar ran against Donalds in Florida’s 19th Congressional District in 2020, losing in the GOP primary that summer. Donalds later won the seat that November. 

The real estate executive later sued Donalds for defamation after the congressman accused Askar’s campaign of telling voters in a text message that the congressman had purportedly left the race. A Florida judge sided with Donalds in the lawsuit, according to Forbes. 

The FEC determined in 2022 that the Askar campaign violated campaign finance law by “failing to disclose complete and accurate information regarding the line of credit from Northern Bank in the Committee’s reports.”

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Carbonara has loaned himself over $4 million in the primary alone, while Keiser has spent about $3.5 million of her own money. Askar has loaned himself $2.5 million.

Carbonara has also received scrutiny during the primary over his ties to a data center in Michigan and questions around whether his campaign was involved in copyright infringement requests that have resulted in Google searches pertaining to the businessman’s data center ties being taken down, according to WLRN.