Jason Pizzo adds $14K to his six-figure campaign war chest in September

Sen. Jason Pizzo continued to add to his pile of campaign cash in September, as he defends his Senate District 38 seat from a Democratic challenger he has faced before.

The Democrat, who lives in North Miami Beach, is facing Daphne Campbell, a registered nurse, who had been the Senator in this district in eastern Miami-Dade County. Pizzo challenged her in the 2018 Primary Election and won, however. Campbell raised no money in September and has no cash on hand, except for a $200 loan she made to her campaign in March.

Meanwhile, Pizzo has $618,550 on hand, mostly due to a $500,000 donation he received in January that led to some speculation he was running for Governor. The former assistant state attorney in the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office has since squelched those rumors, and September’s haul was comparatively modest. He brought in a total of $14,535 when adding donations to his personal campaign account and his political committee.

His personal campaign received $8,035 during September and his committee, New Opportunity Florida, collected $6,500.

Pizzo’s political committee’s biggest September donation came from Surterra Florida, a medical marijuana dispensary, which gave New Opportunity Florida $5,000. The committee also received $1,000 from FirstService Residential, a property management company in Hollywood.

Pizzo’s committee spent nothing and his personal campaign spending came in at less than $100.

The freshman Senator’s personal campaign received $1,000 donations from two Opa-locka tobacco industry members, Dosal Tobacco Corp., and Dosamar Corp.; an Aventura law firm, Capital Advocacy Group; and a Hollywood homemaker, Pat Book. His campaign also received a total of $2,500 from various affiliates of a Deerfield Beach auto dealership, Southeast Toyota Distributors, JM Family Enterprises and Jim Moran & Associates.

Senate District 38 covers eastern Miami-Dade County including Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, Golden Beach, Biscayne Park, and Miami Shores.

His campaign faced a Monday deadline to report all campaign finance activity in September.