Incumbent Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has topped the $5 million mark in her campaign fundraising, according to a statement from her campaign received Wednesday.
Levine Cava raised $650,000 in June, according to the press release. The next campaign finance reports are not due until Friday, but the DLC camp felt they had something to crow about: A total of $5.2 million raised, through almost 4,000 individual contributions, with an average contribution of $300. This, the campaign says, shows “strong and sustained support” for Levine Cava.
And it is announced as absentee or mail-in ballots are scheduled to be sent out to voters next week.
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“As we enter the final stretch of our campaign, I am so grateful for the confidence and outpouring of support from our community,” Levine Cava said in a statement. “Together, we are building a stronger, more future-ready Miami-Dade — but we are not finished yet. With another four years, I look forward to continuing my service and leading with vision, integrity, and a commitment to results.”
La Alcaldesa is defending her throne from the grabby hands of six challengers, who are led by Miami Lakes Mayor and small business owner Manny Cid and radical, rightwing Cuban-American actor, influencer and podcaster Alex Otaola. Also running, former Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger, Spanish TV host Carlos Garin, trapeze artist Miguel “El Skipper” Quintero and Eddy Rojas, who owns a valet parking company. Those last four will share a smaller piece of the voter pie.
If nobody gets 50% plus one, there’s a runoff in November. Levine Cava and her camp don’t want a runoff and think they can avoid one. They might, if Otaola and Cid split the Republican base. Even if they don’t, Levine Cava is in a very strong place. Not only did she have more than $2.1 million in hand as of June 14, and that’s more now, DLC has a long list of endorsements that includes dozens of current and former electeds from county municipalities, every labor union far and wide, the MIAMI Realtors, SAVE, the Sierra Club and more.
It’s like a conga line for Cava.
But she has vulnerabilities. And her tax record is among them.
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She’s already been blasted for the $2.5 billion bomb bond referendum she floated at the State of the County in January, which Levine Cava quickly scrapped days later after a terribly cold reception Two Florida Democratic Party mailers that arrived in Kendall mailboxes in recent days tout a “tax cut” that’s not real. Levine Cava cut the tax rate by 1%, but, because of property value increases, it still resulted in a tax increase for many if not most property owners. Ladra is not saying that the county doesn’t need those funds to provide services. And cutting services is not the answer. So own it. Levine Cava raised taxes to sustain and, in some cases, increase critical services . Fact.
Playing up a fake tax break gives the opponents an opportunity to call La Alcaldesa on it, and Cid has. She would do better to just say that she lowered the tax rate as much as she could but recognizes it wasn’t enough for some people and will work harder to do better.
Levine Cava, who made history when she was elected the first female mayor in 2020, launched a major six-figure bilingual TV and digital ad buy last week, focusing on the mayor’s efforts to address the affordability crisis, programs to help renters, adding housing units to the inventory and, here we go again, making “historic cuts” to the property tax rate.
“Three and a half years ago, I made a promise to build a government that listens, responds, and innovates for the future,” the mayor says in the English spot. “I’m your mayor Daniella Levine Cava, proudly running for reelection, humbled and honored with what we have accomplished together.
“But our work is not done. And with your support we will continue to lead with vision, integrity, and a commitment to results.”
The Spanish one says the same thing, and La Alcaldesa speaks Spanish a lot better than Otaola speaks English.
Daniella Levine Cava announces $5 mil plus in fundraising for re-election added by Ladra on
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