Spencer Fordin
Renier Diaz de la Portilla has officially erased his late entry lag in the race for Miami-Dade County Commission.
Diaz de la Portilla, who entered the race for District 5 in May, raised more than $89,000 in the latest filing period and passed incumbent Eileen Higgins in total funding over the life of the campaign.
Diaz de la Portilla has now raised $405,450 while Higgins has raised $354,252.
The challenger is the brother of former Rep. and Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla and former Sen. and County Commissioner Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, relationships that likely helped him raise an average of $921 from each of his 440 contributors.
He started his campaign off by raising $116,050 in May, and he followed that up by raising $45,900 between June 13 and June 26 and $60,825 between June 27 and July 10.
Diaz de la Portilla, a graduate of Florida International University, has spent $352,798, leaving $52,652 in cash on hand. Higgins, by contrast, has spent $278,796 and retains $75,456. She began raising money for her campaign with $58,260 in March of 2019 but hasn’t raised more than $20,000 in any funding period since November.
The incumbent defeated Alex Diaz de la Portilla, the third-place finisher, in her 2018 election to the County Commission, and she has netted an average $339 per donation from her 1,043 contributors this time around.
Higgins spent $24,296 between July 25 and 31, including $22,125 to Edge Communications.
The third candidate in the race, businessman Miguel Soliman, has not been able to attract the same kind of financial support. Soliman has raised $102,905 and spent $78,624, leaving $24,281 on hand.
Soliman raised $875 and spent $77 in the latest filing period.
He hasn’t raised more than $10,000 in any filing period since raising $23,500 in May.
There is one funding period remaining before the primary election takes place on Aug. 18.
