The only shocker of the night so far in this predictable election — okay, Gov. Rick Scott won but we were told that one could go either way — is t
hat State Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez beating back Republican lobbyist Daniel Diaz-Leyva despite the fact that
Danny Boy spent probably twice as much dough.
Ladra called it early after J-Rod showed a 75 vote lead in absentee ballots and early voting. Danny Boy was supposed to own the ABs. And J-Rod was supposed to own Election Day voting — and he did widen the gap. With 48 of 52 precincts reporting at 10:20 p.m., JRod had 51% of the vote — a 622 ballot lead.
It’s hard to make up 600 votes in four precincts. Even with a half a million dollars.
Read related story: Close to $600K already spent in House 112 race
According to his own campaign reports, Danny Boy
had spent $407,000 by Oct. 30. He had about $25,000 more in his account, plus whatever he raised the last days, and the Miami-Dade Republican Party also helped him and he probably has a PAC spending more.
J-Rod, meanwhile, had raised about $350,000.
Neither candidate was immediately available for comment.
Miami-Dade Republican Party Chairman Nelson Diaz, who really thought Diaz-Leyva was going to steal the seat in this Republican midterm year, told Ladra that they may have underestimated J-Rod’s appeal.
“It’s always difficult going against an incumbent,” said Diaz, yelling over the shouts of Republican celebrants who were watching U.S. Senate seats flip on the TV screen at Las Vegas Restaurant like letters on the Wheel of Fortune.
“It may be the only saving grace the Democrats have in the country,” he said about the 112 race.
Others told Ladra that they thought a radio ad with the endorsement of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado helped J-Rod and hurt Danny Boy. “Regalado has a lot of pull with the older Republicans in a large part of that district,” one campaign insider told me.
Diaz said that it was hard to attack Rodriguez since he hadn’t done very much to stir up controversy in his freshman term.
“He hasn’t done anything, one way or another. It’s like Bill Nelson, he hasn’t done anything good or bad,” Diaz said. “And he’s a nice guy. That he hasn’t done anything bad and he’s a nice guy and an incumbent, that’s a hard combination.”
It’s also going to be a hard night for another Diaz: State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, who won his barely-a-race in District 116 but had worked heavily to help Diaz Leyva, who had campaigned for him.
That’s okay, guys. Everybody else is already looking at 2016. Why don’t you?
Jose Javier Rodriguez hangs on despite Danny Boy’s dough added by Ladra on
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