On a brisk Thursday morning, John Harshman stood outside Sarasota City Hall with an announcement less than two weeks before the end of his political campaign.

A single donor had poured $200,000 into a political committee supporting Harshman’s opponents in the City Commission race — an extraordinary amount of money for a local election and one that he claimed could have historic consequences for Sarasota politics.

“There is something voters need to know about,” said Harshman, a retired real estate broker and first-time political candidate, before a small crowd who attended his eight-minute press conference.

“One single, wealthy donor is pouring an unprecedented amount of money into this race, supporting my opponent, Flo Entler.”

The money came in two $100,000 donations from a man named David O. Campbell to Stand Up for Sarasota, a political committee that has paid for advertisements supporting both Entler, the president of the Arlington Park Neighborhood Association, and incumbent Jen Ahearn-Koch.

The two seats up for grabs represent the entire city of Sarasota. Ahearn-Koch is running to serve a third term on the commission, while Entler and Harshman are vying to replace retiring Mayor Debbie Trice. 

Although he has advanced to the general election, Harshman’s third-place finish in the August primary makes him the underdog. Ahearn-Koch received 34% of the vote, Entler received 29% and Harshman had 18%.

Campbell’s contributions to the committee equal about 91% of the combined amount raised directly by the three remaining candidates seeking the two open seats, according to campaign finance disclosures.

Little is known about Campbell or why he has invested so heavily in the race. Harshman himself said he was not sure who Campbell was, only that such a large infusion of cash was highly unusual for the city of Sarasota and that it deserves more transparency.

“Nobody pays $200,000 on a city commission race and wants nothing,” Harshman said. “He wants something. What is it?”

Campbell owns a $3.2 million mansion nestled on Bird Key. Nobody answered the door when a Suncoast Searchlight reporter visited, and Campbell did not respond to an email or phone call.

The donations come amid an election cycle on the Suncoast that finds itself at the intersection of anger at the establishment by voters, the infusion of artificial intelligence into campaign advertising, and election money that is increasingly difficult for the average citizen to track.

Sarasota County Commissioners Mark Smith and Joe Neunder held a very similar press conference in August — on a much hotter Friday — to decry Local Government Accountability Inc. The online group claimed to be a government watchdog, but was actually a dark-money organization that put up social media advertisements against the incumbent candidates.

Neunder ended up losing in the August primary to Jim DeNiro, a former Sarasota Police officer and first-time candidate whose brother-in-law is John LaCivita, president and CEO of Willis A. Smith Construction. 

Smith beat his sole challenger in the race, political newcomer Kristina Sargant, and faces no opponents in the general election, meaning he will return for a second term.

In an email to Suncoast Searchlight, Entler denied any involvement or coordination with Stand Up for Sarasota and said she did not know Campbell.

“Like it or not, PACs exist and are running ads for all three city commission candidates,” she wrote in the email. “The PAC you’re asking about is independent of my campaign. Its endorsements and advertising reflect its decisions, not mine.”

Ahearn-Koch did not respond to calls from Suncoast Searchlight.

City commission races are nonpartisan, but the county Republican Party has endorsed Harshman, and the Democratic Party has endorsed both Ahearn-Koch and Entler.

Huge dollar donations raises questions in Sarasota

Stand Up for Sarasota was formed in June and chaired by Natalie Kato, a Tallahassee-based attorney who operates 31 other political committees in Florida. 

Kato also chaired a committee called Friends of Tom Edwards, when the Sarasota County School Board member ran his successful reelection campaign in 2024.

When reached by Suncoast Searchlight, Kato declined to say if anyone else was tied to the committee but that “the ads speak for themselves” before ending the phone call.

The committee’s website outlines explicit support for Ahearn-Koch and Entler. Its YouTube channel displays campaign advertisements for the two candidates, which the committee has also posted on social media.

The committee is solely funded by the $200,000 from Campbell. 

Public records indicate he is a 76-year-old registered Democrat. But he has donated to Republicans in the past, including Gov. Ron DeSantis’ election campaign in 2018 and to Bridget Ziegler in 2022. That year, he also gave $5,000 to Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections — a group that opposed removing the county commission’s single-member districts.

He is listed as the president of Projection Video Services, a company based in Virginia, according to state records. A 2021 press release by the company identified Campbell as the founder.

Campbell’s address, email and phone number also are listed for a different political committee called Save Our Sarasota, according to the County Supervisor of Elections database. That committee’s only contribution was $50,000 in 2024 from Campbell himself. Since July 2025, Campbell also has provided the committee with $32,000 worth of in-kind contributions for the use of a video truck.

Campbell provided another $12,000 in “video media services” to a committee called Keep Sarasota Sarasota, which is chaired by former planning board member David Morriss.

Morriss told Suncoast Searchlight that Campbell owned a company that displayed advertisements for Ahearn-Koch and Entler on a video truck in Sarasota. He said he was asked to set up the committee by a friend to support the two candidates but would not say who it was.

Christian Casale covers government and politics for Suncoast Searchlight. Email him at christian@suncoastsearchlight.org or christiancasale@protonmail.com