Ryan Nicol
Republican Sen. Manny Diaz holds nearly $456,000 in available cash as he seeks a second term representing Senate District 36.
Diaz actually ate into that war chest in July. He hauled in $20,000 in donations but showed nearly $36,000 in expenditures. Still, the incumbent is sitting on plenty of cash as he remains the only candidate filed in the contest so far.
Diaz added $3,000 through his campaign account in July. That came courtesy of three maxed-out $1,000 donations from Realtor PACs. Diaz brought in another $17,000 through his political committee, Better Florida Education. That includes $5,000 from Tallahassee lobbyist Christopher Moya and another $5,000 from the Firefighter FACT PAC, a group that has donated to both Republican and Democratic candidates in the past.
In July, Diaz’s campaign account spent just over $2,000 while his PC shelled out nearly $34,000. The bulk of that money — more than $27,000 — went to Tallahassee-based Ross Consulting. Diaz’s campaign account sent $1,000 to Ross Consulting, while the rest came from his PC.
The Diaz PC also shipped out $3,000 to Upper Hand Strategies for media consulting.
Earlier this year, Diaz kicked off his fundraising effort with an event at former President Donald Trump’s Doral resort. Diaz has been steadily raising money since winning the SD 36 seat in 2018, defeating Democrat David Perez.
It’s unclear how the redistricting process will affect the boundaries and makeup of SD 36. But Diaz won the 2018 race fairly handily, pulling in just over 54% of the vote and defeating Perez by 8 percentage points. Before that win, Diaz served in the House, representing House District 103.
During his 2018 run, Diaz raised plenty of cash on his way to winning the open seat. The district mostly covers an inland portion of northern Miami-Dade County, including Miami Lakes, Hialeah and Miami Springs.
Diaz has focused on education issues during his legislative tenure, aiming to expand vouchers for families looking to send their children to private school.
Candidates and political committees face a Tuesday deadline to report all financial activity through July 31.
