Ryan Nicol
State Rep. Robert Asencio is in a tight money race between his Republican opponent for House District 118, Anthony Rodriguez.
That’s according to the latest fundraising reports filed with the Florida Division of Elections.
Asencio, the Democratic incumbent, pulled in $12,600 from Oct. 13-19. That was mostly due to multiple $1,000 donations from various political committees and interest groups.
Among those that chipped in were the Florida Laborers Political Committee, the New Leadership Network, the Florida AFL-CIO and World Omni Financial Corp.
Asencio also burned through nearly $27,000 thanks in large part to a $20,000 advertising buy. The campaign also spent more than $3,300 on merchandise for advertising and an additional $2,500 on consulting services.
Rodriguez brought in $7,500 in contributions from from Oct. 13-19, leaving him about $5,000 short of Asencio. Rodriguez received $1,000 donations from Florida Blue and PhRMA, as well as a $500 contribution from Waste Management of Florida.
The Republican spent just over $19,000 during the same period. More than $18,000 of that was put toward campaign materials and canvassing.
All in all, Rodriguez is sitting on around $40,000, while Asencio’s campaign has just under $37,000 on hand.
However, Asencio is also aided by a political committee he chairs called Alliance for Prosperity PC. That organization hauled in another $12,500 during the period and has about $16,000 available.
HD 118 covers parts of Miami-Dade County including Tamiami and Kendall. Both Asencio and Rodriguez were unchallenged in their respective primaries.
