Jesse Scheckner
Nonprofit leader Marleine Bastien raised more than $11,000 in November toward her bid for the Miami-Dade County Commission seat representing District 2, adding further distance between herself and five other candidates in the race.
Less than a year before the 2022 General Election, Bastien — the founder and director of the Family Action Network Movement, a low-income community advocacy organization — holds about $122,000.
That’s more than the combined war chests of her five opponents. Wallace Aristide, a former principal at Miami Northwestern Senior High, has just over $59,000. North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime holds $27,000. Retired firefighter and paramedic William Clark has about $22,000. Former North Miami Mayor Josaphat “Joe” Celestin has $6,000. And past Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Monique Barley-Mayo, who would join cousin Keon Hardemon on the County Commission if elected, has raised and spent nothing so far.
They are vying to succeed Jean Monestime, the first Haitian American to hold the District 2 seat and chair the County Commission. Monestime, who has served uninterrupted since 2010, reaches term limits next year.
Bastien continued to build grassroots momentum in November, when she collected 30 individual donations ranging from $25 to $1,000. That included four donations totaling $1,230 from people with whom she shares a surname.
She also received four local business contributions. The Aventura-based Bladder Health and Reconstructive Urology Institute donated $1,000. Lumana Physical Therapy and Wellness Center in Miami chipped in $500. Miami Gardens-based Comprehensive Network Services also gave $500. Accurate Business Systems, a promotional product distributor in Miami, gave $168.
Bastien spent minimally last month, her sole expenditure a $67 payment to mobile phone company Metro PCS.
Bien-Aime, who was re-elected to a two-year mayoral term in May but has since shifted his focus to the county’s legislative body, raised $2,000 last month and spent nothing. Inclusive of a $25,000 self-loan in October, he has $27,000.
His November gains came exclusively from Chicago-owned real estate development, acquisition, management and advisory company Golub & Co. through a subsidiary and a local development partnership.
Golub, which has operated in South Florida for years, recently paid $10 million for three lots that were formerly part of the now-closed North Miami campus of Johnson & Wales University.
The company and partner Oldtown Capital Partners are at work to develop a 358-unit apartment community that would rise in District 2.
Aristide amassed $1,300 last month. He now holds about $59,000.
Of his November haul, all but a $500 check from Hollywood-based health care company Prolife Technologies LLC came from individual donors.
Aristide’s campaign spending appears to be ramping up. Last month, he paid $200 to event entertainment company Reivax Enterprises, $150 to telecom giant Xfinity, $113 to the U.S. Postal Service for postage, $20 to web domain host GoDaddy and $16 to the Miami Herald for advertising, among other expenditures.
Clark, meanwhile, holds about $22,000, inclusive of about $1,125 he raised last month through small individual donations.
He also spent about $450, mostly on campaign flyers, web hosting and bank fees.
District 2 spans portions of Miami, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Opa-locka, Hialeah and the unincorporated areas of Liberty City, North Dade Central and Biscayne Gardens.
