Jesse Scheckner
Democratic Sen. Annette Taddeo’s reelection campaign gained more than $34,500 last month through a blend of individual gifts and organization donations.
Taddeo now has nearly $149,000 in cash ahead of an election more than a year away and in a District 40 race in which she currently has no challenger. Her haul last month marked the third-largest monthly uptick since she launched her reelection campaign in May 2019.
As was the case in June, much of Taddeo’s July gains through her campaign and political committee, Fight Back Florida, came from individual donors. Sixty individual cash donations ranged from $3 to $100; eight ranged from $250 to $1,000.
Taddeo’s lean into grassroots fundraising is consistent with her past critiques of and actions against political dark money. In 2020, she sued the Floridians for Equality and Justice political committee and asked Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle to open an investigation into the organization, which had bankrolled attack ads against a political ally.
The biggest contribution Taddeo got last month, $10,000, came from veteran Democratic consultant Screven Watson’s political committee, Florida Alliance for Better Government.
Bonree Enterprises, a for-profit business headquartered in Miami-Dade County, donated $5,000, as did powerhouse Florida lobbyist Ron Book and Santiago Morales, CEO of Maxiforce, a Doral-based global provider of diesel engine parts.
The real estate sector gave $3,000 through three entities: Realtors Political Action Committee, Realtors Political Activity Committee, and Realtors Political Advocacy Committee.
Trade groups Communications Workers of America and Community Healthcare PC donated $1,000 apiece.
Of about $6,500 Taddeo spent last month, most went to marketing and communications services.
SD 40 in southwest Miami-Dade is comprised of 19 unincorporated neighborhoods, including the Crossing, Hammocks, Kendall, Kendall West, Country Walk, Richmond Heights, Sunset, Tamiami, Three Lakes, West Perrine and Westchester.
The district, which also contains Miami Executive Airport, has trended purple in recent years, voting in 2016 for Hillary Clinton but also electing Republican Frank Artiles, whom Taddeo replaced in a 2017 Special Election.
She won reelection a year later, besting Republican opponent Marili Cancio with 53.5% of the vote.
