Miami's Alex Diaz de la Portilla raises more than $1.2 mil in four months

Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla is still raising money hand over fist for his re-election this November. In the last two months, he’s raised more than $610,000, almost as much as the two months previously, bringing the total since March to more than $1.2 million.

In his campaign’s first month, Diaz de la Portilla raised only $76,603. That’s hard money. He’s better at the soft money, or “indirect” contributions via his political action committee, Proven Leadership For Miami-Dade, which reported getting $124,000 in June and $492,249 in May.

Maybe some of those were wedding gifts after his marriage to Vanessa Garcia Azzam, a former District 1 aide who now works for Miami-Dade Commissioner Keon Hardemon. The were married May 19, according to the marriage license.

That’s added to the $633,000 raised the two months prior for a fat $1.24 mil that can be argued is for his re-election campaign. The PAC, which has also been used for his brother Renier Diaz de la Portilla’s multiple failed attempts at public office, had only raised $8,000 since September of 2022.

The new contributions include $50,000 from former Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff through his Truth is the Daughter of Time PAC and $50,000 from the owner of Mokai Lounge, the Miami Beach nightclub that was shut down temporarily after a horse bucked a scantily-clad woman off its back in a packed house. He also got $50,000 each from Additive Strategies, a business consultant firm owned by Jay Solowsky, president of the Brickell Homeowners Association (who only gave $25,000 to Commissoner Sabina Covo), and Biscayne Global Management, property managers.

He also got at least $20,000 from four different companies connected to developer Lissette Calderon, of the Calderon Group, who last year bought a 7.3-acre site at 2301 Northwest 33rd Avenue for $32.2 million. The other recent PAC contributions include:

$35,000 from real estate development company Oko Group
$25,000 from Bayside Marketplace
$25,000 from Allapattah Investors and Riverside Apartments, two companies with the same address and owners, Sheldon Lowe and Tomas Cabrerizo
$25,000 from five different companies with no information on the state data list but the same address as developer Sergio Rok, who owns one of the companies
$25,000 from Regency Miami Investors
$25,000 from developer Nir Shoshani, who also gave another $12,000 in bundled checks to the candidate account
$20,000 from Edgewater Management Services
$30,000 from Delaware real estate investment firm identified as Pristine De (which had already given $50K in April) and $10K from Texas real estate investors Magellan Housing

Interestingly enough, but not necessarily part of the deep pocket development money, former Mayor and uber Democrat Alex Penelas also gave $1,000. Meanwhile, brother Miguel Diaz de la Portilla gave a mere $100. What ugly thing did Alex say to the former Senator’s wife, huh?

Diaz de la Portilla has one announced challenger so far. Miguel Gabela, the same resident who forced him into a runoff four years ago. Gabela, an auto parts dealer, has reported raising $18,000 — although $14,000 of that are in loans to himself. He has run for the seat four times, losing to former Commissioner Willy Gort before losing to ADLP in 2019.

Diaz de la Portilla, who raised more than $1.6 million for the seat, got 61% of the vote.

This year, the commissioner is trying a different tactic. The city has presented a redrawn districts map that cuts Gabela’s house right out of District 1. Those new districts must be approved by the same judge that threw out the first map and Gabela will be providing his arguments in favor of invalidation before the Nov. 7 election.

Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Miguel Gabela

Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla raises more than $1.2 mil in four months added by Ladra on July 16, 2023
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