Ryan Nicol
Republican Rep. Vance Aloupis added another $10,000 to his reelection campaign for House District 115.
Rep. Randy Fine’s political committee pitched in $1,000 in the most recent reporting period. The Florida Beer Wholesalers political committee added another $1,000, as did a separate political committee tied to that organization.
Aloupis has now collected nearly $290,000 as he faces a challenge from Democratic candidate Franccesca Cesti-Browne. The incumbent has around $183,000 remaining in his war chest. Both candidates are unopposed in their respective primaries and will face off in the Nov. 3 general election.
Cesti-Browne, meanwhile, has raised around $67,000 since entering the race in late 2019. She added nearly $3,000 in the most recent reporting period, which covered July 18-24.
Cesti-Browne has more than $62,000 available going forward. That’s about a third of Aloupis’ total. She secured support from the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), a pro-Democratic PAC chaired by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
The group endorsed Cesti-Browne in late June. She’s one of more than 100 candidates the organization endorsed. The NRDC pledged approximately $2 million to those races.
Aloupis, however, picked up his fundraising pace after pausing fundraising efforts at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, instead focusing on community aid work.
HD 115 covers parts of Miami-Dade County including Pinecrest, South Miami and Palmetto Bay. The district has trended purple in recent years. Republican Rep. Michael Bileca won reelection in 2014 by 18 percentage points amid a Republican wave.
In 2016, his margin shrank to 7 points. Aloupis succeeded Bileca in 2018, winning the seat by just 1 percentage point as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson won the district as well despite losing their statewide races.
Aloupis has plenty of cash banked, however, to help hold off a challenge.
Candidates and political committees faced a Friday, July 31 deadline to report all financial activity through July 24.
