Ryan Nicol
Former Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas reported another $149,600 raised in the month of December in his bid to regain his old job in 2020.
That means Penelas closes out 2019 with more than $2.85 million raised between his campaign and his political committee, Bold Vision.
Notably, Penelas’ December number was nearly matched by Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, who is attempting to become the first female Mayor in Miami-Dade County history.
The Levine Cava campaign says it added more than $140,000 last month. She’s added more than $2 million through her campaign and political committee, Our Democracy PC.
However, just over $400,000 of that was money transferred from a political committee that backed Levine Cava well before the beginning of her mayoral run.
Still, Penelas had easily topped the field in fundraising since officially joining the race in October. That month, he added a whopping $850,000. Penelas followed that up with another $300,000 in November.
But Levine Cava was able to pull within $10,000 of Penelas’ haul in December. That’s more in line with the fundraising battle prior to Penelas’ filing. The two mostly ran about even in fundraising as Penelas collected money through his PC in the months leading up to his official announcement.
Narrow win or not, Penelas is topping the nine-person field in December fundraising, at least among the individuals whose reports have been posted so far.
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Esteban Bovo raised just over $15,000 during the month. Fellow Commissioner Xavier Suarez added $2,000 through his political committee, Imagine Miami. The Suarez campaign itself showed $0 raised.
Real estate agent Ludmilla Domond and former County Commissioner Juan Zapata both reported $0 collected overall. Numbers were not available as of this posting for entrepreneur Monique Nicole Barley, County Commissioner Jean Monestime or former Miami mayoral candidate Robert Burke.
Penelas carries more than $2.65 million forward going into 2020. Levine Cava is in second in cash on hand, sitting at more than $1.54 million.
Candidates and political committees faced a Friday deadline to report all fundraising activity through the end of 2019.
