Anne Geggis
Rep. Juan Fernandez-Barquin has no opponent, but $180,398 in cash on hand to defend his seat representing House District 119 if one shows up.
The Republican, who lives in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, raised a total of $38,500 in September, between his personal campaign fundraising and his political committee, Floridians United.
A Tampa-based medical marijuana company, Surterra, gave Fernandez-Barquin’s committee $6,000, the biggest contribution of the month. His committee received $5,000 each from Corcoran Partners, a lobbying firm; Florida Prosperity Fund, a political committee; NextEra Holdings, a utility and power company; and Pooches of Bellaire, a Houston-based pet retailer.
His personal campaign account collected the maximum $1,000 each from Comcast, a media company based in Philadelphia; FAIAPAC, the political action committee of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents; Merck Sharp & Dohme, a pharmaceutical company based in Kenilworth, Pennsylvania.; NBCUniversal, a media company; and Daniel Veres of Wexford, Pennsylvania, who runs a cloud-based government solutions company.
Fernandez-Barquin reimbursed himself $6,565 for travel, meals, and fundraising supplies, according to his finance report. It was his biggest expense last month. He spent $5,065 at JW Marriott Atlanta last month, also. Campaign finance reports show that Fernandez-Barquin hired Miami-based political consultant, Red Road Consulting for $2,149 in September. He also spent $1,500 on services from the Ponte Vedra-based political consulting company The Archmann Group.
Fernandez-Barquin is a lawyer who was first elected in 2018.
He received some notice last Legislative Session for sponsoring the anti-riot bill that became a law. It enhances legal penalties against rioters, vandals and looters and was promoted as a means to combat public disorder. Some, however, saw it as targeting certain minorities exercising their free speech rights.
Barquin-Fernandez has served on the House Judiciary Committee and the subcommittees of Criminal Justice; Business & Professions; Children, Families & Seniors; and Justice Appropriations.
His district is entirely composed of unincorporated Miami-Dade County, including Kendale Lakes, Kendall West, Tamiami, The Crossings and The Hammocks.
His campaign faced a Monday deadline to report contributions and expenditures through Sept. 30
