State Rep. Alina Garcia, a Republican abandoning her seat to run for Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, has raised the most of five candidates in the race — and more than both Democrats combined, according to finance reports filed this week for the first quarter of the year.
Garcia reported collecting $125,647 in her campaign account, which is more than twice as much as both former State Rep. JC Planas, the local politicos’ go-to attorney for election law, has raised ($54,856), and political consultant Willis Howard has raised ($44,040).
Of course, $63,742 of Garcia’s campaign money is rolled over from her state rep account. So that means that she raised $61,905 in 18 days, according to the report.
The only obvious bundling found were small amounts: $5,000 each from Jose Jimenez and Humberto Torres, who own several insurance companies, and former State Rep. Manny Prieguez, now a lobbyist who owns a seafood business in Miami.
Read related: Alina Garcia leaves FL House to face Dem for Miami Dade elections chief
She also got 18 checks for her campaign account from political action committees, which also gave generously to her own PAC, Florida Always First, which reported another $39,300 raised in the first quarter for a total raised of $221,700. Of the last quarter’s haul, $21K came from committees, including $10,000 from State Rep. Daniel Perez‘s PAC and $5,000 from Sen. Alexis Calatayud‘s PAC.
She also got $1,000 apiece from the PACs for State Rep. Tom Fabricio (Miami Lakes), Miami-Dade Commissioner Anthony Rodriguez, Hialeah Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo and former Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera — all good Republicans. State Rep. Alex Rizo (Hialeah), not so much, with just $500.
They might be motivated to give generously so that Garcia — the presumed winner of the GOP primary, though there are two other candidates — can beat JC Planas, the presumed winner of the Democrat primary. Not just because it’s a pretty important position, on the ballot for the first time since voters passed state Amendment 10 in 2018. Who doesn’t want to oversee elections after the 2020 challenges to the results? But also because the onetime Republican legislator is seen as a traitor since he changed parties in 2016 because of Donald Trump.
Planas — who fits this position like no other candidate in any race, ever — has raised just under $55,000 in his campaign account since July. The last quarter was the worst, according to the reports, with only $7,630 reported in contributions. But Planas reached his total in 172 separate contribution with no obvious bundling and a lot of smaller checks while Garcia only had 83 contributions, with far more at the $1,000 maximum.
Read related: Former state rep, election attorney JC Planas files for 2024 Elections chief
Planas’ own PAC, the long-winded Protecting the Right to Vote in Miami-Dade County (that’s going to eat up radio ad time), only got $2,050 in the last three months.
Garcia has also been more frugal. While Planas has spent all but $2K of his PAC money and more than half ($30,693) of his campaign account funds, leaving him with about $26,000 in hand, Garcia has almost $270K at her disposal between both her accounts.
But Planas has a back-up account: Another PAC called Friends of JC Planas reported last quarter having $500,000 available in a single donation from loan broker Eduardo Fernandez.
The primary is Aug. 20 and people can still qualify for the race through June 14. The general election is Nov. 5.
For Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor, GOP’s Alina Garcia leads fundraising added by Ladra on
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