Jesse Scheckner
Miami Republican Rep. Daniel Perez raised exactly $332,000 in May to defend his seat representing House District 116 and deter any would-be challenger from even thinking about filing against him.
As of May 31, Perez held more than $2.3 million between his campaign account and political committees, Conservatives for a Better Florida and Miami United PC.
He’s raised well over $3 million this election cycle.
His largest contribution last month came from Associated Builders and Contractors, which has more than 22,000 commercial contractors and construction-related firms as members across almost 70 chapters nationwide.
He also received a spate of $25,000 donations from several political committees, including the Florida Free Enterprise Fund, Voice of Florida Business, Floridians for Economic Advancement and The Right Future for Florida, which benefitted outgoing Rep. Vance Aloupis.
Other $25,000 donations came from the Florida Hospital Association —a repeat giver to Perez’s campaign — and Dosal Tobacco, the Opa-locka-based manufacturing company of the DTC and 305’s cigarette brands.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the largest trade union of public employees in the nation, chipped in $20,000. PepsiCo gave $10,000.
Perez spent more than $133,000 last month. His largest expenditure was a $60,000 donation to the Miami-Dade County Commission campaign of his friend Kevin Marino Cabrera, a government relations specialist with Mercury whose past political bosses include former President Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo and Florida Supreme Court Justice John Couriel.
Perez endorsed Cabrera last month, calling him “a fighter who will be a great partner and a strong advocate for the residents of Miami-Dade in Tallahassee.”
Perez’s other big bit of spending was a $53,000 payment to Miami-based strategy firm Red Road Consulting.
HD 116 covers a center-west portion of Miami-Dade that includes part of the city of Sweetwater and large swaths of the county’s unincorporated Kendall, Sunset and Tamiami neighborhoods. The district contains two major college campuses, Miami Dade College Kendall Campus and Florida International University’s Modesto Maidique Campus, as well as Dolphin Mall, which touts itself as the “largest retail value shopping center” in the county.
Perez won office in a 2017 Special Election after receiving nearly 66% of the vote to succeed former Republican Rep. José Félix Díaz in HD 116. He retained the seat a year later, defeating Democratic opponent James Harden with 57% of ballots cast in his favor.
In 2019, he won an in-party race to secure his future as House Speaker from 2024 to 2026, provided Republicans retain control of the chamber.
The next year, he toppled Democrat Bob Lynch with 63% of the vote to earn his second full House term.
Candidates faced a Friday deadline to report all campaign finance activity through the end of May.
