Ryan Nicol
Republican leadership in the Senate is once again pushing to raise money for state Rep. Ana Maria Rodriguez as she pursues the Senate District 39 seat in 2020.
A fundraiser for Rodriguez is being scheduled for Monday, Jan. 13. That fundraiser will be hosted by Senate President Bill Galvano, President-designate Wilton Simpson and Senate Majority Leader Kathleen Passidomo.
Passidomo is in line for the Senate President position as well in 2022.
The January fundraiser will be held in Tallahassee and will run from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Top Republicans have been behind the Rodriguez Senate campaign since before it even began.
Rodriguez is serving her freshman term in the House after she won the House District 105 seat in 2018. But with Republican state Sen. Anitere Flores term-limited in SD 39, Senate leadership pushed Rodriguez to make a run for the SD 39 seat in an effort to keep in in GOP hands.
The decision to run was quickly rewarded with a round of endorsements backing her campaign. Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez endorsed Rodriguez in late August. That was followed by state Sens. Simpson, Passidomo and Travis Hutson backing Rodriguez one day later.
In mid-October, Nuñez headlined a fundraiser for Rodriguez. In early December, Simpson hosted another.
The upcoming January fundraising reception isn’t even the first for Rodriguez headlined by the trio of Galvano, Simpson and Passidomo. The group held a similar event in late October.
Fundraising reports from September and November also showed a pair of $25,000 checks given by Hutson‘s political committee, Sunshine State Conservatives. Those donations were issued to Ethics and Honesty in Government, a political committee backing the Rodriguez Senate campaign.
The widespread GOP support for Rodriguez has driven other Republican contenders out of the race, leaving Rodriguez the last Republican standing. State Rep. Javier Fernandez, who is competing in the contest as a Democrat, is also the lone member of his party running after receiving the backing of the entire Senate Democratic caucus.
The open contest is expected to be one of the most highly-contested state-level races in 2020. The district covers all of Monroe County and part of Miami-Dade County.
