Ryan Nicol
Republican Rep. Anthony Rodriguez added more than $55,000 in his bid to retain the House District 118 seat. He’s now sitting on nearly $296,000 as he fends off a challenge from Democratic candidate Ricky Junquera.
Rodriguez raised $38,000 from Sept. 5 to 18 through his campaign account. His political committee, A Bolder Florida, added another $17,500 during the same span.
That allowed Rodriguez to increase his cash advantage despite Junquera adding more than $31,000 to his campaign for the second straight reporting period.
Last period, Junquera’s total was boosted by a $17,500 contribution from the Florida Democratic Party (FDP). His newest report was aided by a surge of out-of-state donors.
In terms of raw cash, just over $14,000 — or nearly 46% — of Junquera’s haul came from inside Florida. He courted many small donations of $10 or less from out of state, however. Florida residents accounted for just over 7% of his 804 donors Sept. 5-18.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, relied on big-dollar donations. Florida Power and Light and Guidewell Group, a health care company, contributed $5,000 each to A Bolder Florida. Somewhat surprisingly, the Florida Education Association Advocacy Fund — which operates on behalf of the state’s largest teacher’s union — also donated $2,500 to the GOP incumbent’s PC.
Two organizations associated with The GEO Group, an organization that backs private prisons, also donated $1,000 each to the Rodriguez campaign.
The incumbent held onto much of his cash during the period, spending just over $2,500. Most of that money, $2,000, went toward donations to other Republican campaigns.
Junquera spent a bit more. He showed just over $15,000 in expenditures for the two-week period. Junquera dropped more than $9,000 on mail services with the North Miami vendor Image Plus Graphics. Junquera also spent $2,000 on fundraising services with GW Strategies.
That leaves just over $114,000 in Junquera’s campaign account. That’s about $180,000 shy of the incumbent’s total.
Rodriguez won the HD 118 seat in 2018, ousting Democratic Rep. Robert Asencio by 2 points. The district covers parts of Miami-Dade County including Tamiami and Kendall.
Candidates and political committees faced a Friday deadline to report all financial activity through Sept. 18.
