Unchallenged Juan Fernandez-Barquin raises $38,500 in September for HD 119 reelection

Juan Fernandez-Barquin
Donors include a medical marijuana firm and lobby shop Corcoran Partners.

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

Anne Geggis

Anne Geggis is a South Florida journalist who began her career in Vermont and has worked at the Sun-Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal and the Gainesville Sun covering government issues, health and education. She was a member of the Sun-Sentinel team that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Parkland high school shooting. You can reach her on Twitter @AnneBoca or by emailing [email protected].



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