Anne Geggis
Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera doesn’t yet have an opponent in her swingy Miami-Dade House District, but she netted $17,000 last month to fend off any challenge that may materialize.
The freshman lawmaker flipped House District 114 from blue to red in the last election. Donations to her personal campaign account and her committee, People Above Politics, in October show support from the health care sector, the insurance industry and several affiliates of a Miami auto dealership. Between her personal campaign account and her committee, Busatta Cabrera has about $124,000 on hand.
Simply Healthcare Plans Inc. in Cincinnati gave Busatta Cabrera’s committee $2,500, the biggest donation of the month from a single entity. But her personal campaign records show Braman, in Miami, gave her a total of $5,000 through five different affiliates: Braman Motors, Braman Cadillac, Braman Hyundai, Braman Real Estate Associates and Braman Imports, all with the same address in Miami.
Other entities donating the maximum $1,000 to Busatta Cabrera’s campaign in October include Caremark RX Inc., based in Rhode Island; Conservatives for Clean Water, a political committee based in Venice; The Mayernick Group, a Tallahassee lobbying firm; Alliance for Honest Government, a Tallahassee political committee; PSM PAC, a political committee in Tallahassee; Agents for a Better Florida, an insurance industry political committee in Tallahassee; Florida Agents for Insurance Reform, also an insurance industry political committee in Tallahassee; Comcast Corp., based in Philadelphia; Cemex Materials, a West Palm Beach construction materials company; and Florida Retail Federation, based in Tallahassee.
Between her personal campaign account and her political committee, Busatta Cabrera spent $1,210 on her campaign in October, all on accounting fees.
The seat had been occupied by Democrats before Busatta Cabrera won election in 2020. Democratic Rep. Javier Fernandez gave up the seat to make an unsuccessful bid for Senate District 39 in 2020.
Busatta Cabrera’s Democratic opponent, Jean-Pierre Bado, lost to her by a little more than 8 percentage points.
Busatta Cabrera serves as the vice-chair of the Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee. She also is on the Judiciary Committee and on the subcommittees for Criminal Justice & Public Safety, Environment & Public Safety, Environment, Agriculture & Flooding, and Finance.
Redistricting may change the district boundaries for Busatta Cabrera’s district, but right now House District 119 incorporates parts of Coral Gables, Miami, South Miami and West Miami.
Candidates faced a deadline last week to report all campaign activity through October.
