“So you want to rely on people who know how to get you where you want to go.," said Rebecca Gasca, a lobbyist and owner with Wendovera LLC. "They have the compass. They’re the compass holders. You’re the boat. And you trust them. And it makes sense because you haven’t been in their shoes.”

Two freshman Democrats fighting to hold onto their seats in 2020 in an effort to help their party retain their majority in the House have built up substantial cash leads to fend off any would-be Republican challengers, according to quarterly campaign finance reports due on Monday.

Businesses, individuals and political action committees related to real estate or development contributed more than $997,000 to 60 of 63 state lawmakers in the 2018 election cycle, good for about 9.1 percent of all legislative campaign contributions. Only the casino industry (15.5 percent) and unions (12.6 percent) gave more.