Jesse Scheckner
June was a good fundraising month for Republican Daniel Perez, whose campaign and political committees raised more than $50,000 toward his currently unopposed run to retain his seat in House District 116.
With more than 15 months before the 2022 General Election, the future House Speaker has $1.16 million to spend, according to data filed with the Florida Division of Elections.
Including $6,150 raised last month, Perez’s campaign since December has received $39,145 in direct contributions, including maxed-out donations of $1,000 from the nonprofit Associated Industries of Florida, Pinch a Penny, Dosal Tobacco, the Walt Disney Travel Co. and Orlando Magic Ltd., among others.
The Florida Police Benevolent Association, a statewide police union, gave two $1,000 donations March 1.
The first of his two PCs, Conservatives for a Better Florida, outspent what it raised last month by more than $20,000, but remains flush with $724,000 in-pocket since it formed in August 2017 ahead of Perez’s election that year.
The PC hasn’t been shy on spending this year, doling out $300,000 to the Republican Party of Florida, $86,400 to Red Road Consulting, plus another $1,000 to the company’s registered agent, Daniel Leon, and $25,000 to A Bolder Florida, a political committee run by fellow Rep. Anthony Rodriguez, who in June announced plans to run for the Miami-Dade Commission next year.
Top contributions to the committee this year include $25,000 donations from Deerfield Beach-based automotive company JM Family Enterprises and The Big Easy Casino, a gambling and gaming site in Hallandale Beach that has donated to several House races this election cycle.
Perez’s other committee, Miami United, raised $15,000 this month and spent $2,667. It still has nearly $404,000 in its reserves, which includes a $25,000 contribution in May from the Florida Yacht Brokers Association and a combined $25,000 from two political committees, Voice of Florida Business and Florida Prosperity Fund, run by former Rep. Tom Feeney, the President and CEO of Associated Industries of Florida.
The committee’s largest expenditures this year include $20,000 for former Rep. and potential Jacksonville mayoral candidate Daniel Davis’ committee, Building a Better Economy; $19,000 for Republican Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera’s committee, People Above Politics; and $11,250 for Tampa-based political consulting firm Strategic Image Management, known colloquially as SIMWINS.
A lawyer in private life, Perez won his Florida House seat representing southwest Miami-Dade — including parts of Doral and the unincorporated neighborhoods of Kendall, Sunset, Westwood Lakes, Westchester, University Park and Fontainebleau — in a September 2017 Special Election.
He replaced José Félix Díaz, who vacated his seat to run for the Florida Senate.
In 2019, after winning reelection the year before, Perez locked up a race to serve as House Speaker in 2024, provided he retains his seat until then and Republicans maintain their majority.
But all was not harmonious among state Republicans. In the run-up to the 2020 election, then-House Speaker José Oliva used his political committee, Conservative Principles for Florida, to pour money into ousting Perez.
That effort proved unsuccessful, as Perez defeated Oliva-backed Primary challenger Gabriel Garcia and soundly trounced Democratic opponent Bob Lynch in November.
