Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall gains $10K in first half of June for Miami-Dade School Board defense

Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall
She’s raised more than 37 times as much as her only opponent this election cycle.

Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall added more than $10,000 in the first half of June to defend her seat on the Miami-Dade County Public School Board. Most of the money came from a local teachers’ union and a Miami-headquartered apartment builder.

As of June 17, she had about $61,000 in her campaign account. A political committee she opened this month, All Children Matter, hasn’t reported any gains yet.

United Teachers of Dade, a union that represents some 30,000 educators in the county, gave her $4,000 this month through four associated organizations.

Residential real estate developer Housing Trust Group, which lists its main office in the Miami neighborhood of Coconut Grove, donated $1,000 directly and another $2,000 through a pair of subsidiaries.

Fort Lauderdale-based law and lobbying firm Becker & Poliakoff gave $1,000.

Bendross-Mindingall also accepted seven personal checks of between $10 and $1,000. Her average individual donation was $367.

She spent nearly $14,000 so far this month, the preponderance of which on consulting. Her records show $10,000 in payments for “political consulting” to Miramar-based Next Movement LLC.

Other expenditures included a $1,900 qualifying fee with Miami-Dade County, a $1,000 payment to the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Miami for an “event space rental” and $750 for T-shirt printings at City Tees Inc., also in Miami.

A lifelong educator with classroom and administrative experience, Bendross-Mindingall is a former Democratic state Representative who served in House District 109 for eight consecutive years before taking her seat on the Miami-Dade School Board in 2010. She’s now seeking her fourth consecutive four-year term.

Standing in her way is Cutler Bay Senior High teacher La-Shanda West, who filed for the race in March 2021 and has struggled ever since to keep up with the incumbent’s comparatively strong fundraising numbers.

Bendross-Mindingall has raised more than $90,000 since filing for re-election in August. West, meanwhile, has collected less than $2,400.

Last month, she didn’t raise or spend a cent.

District 2 covers the municipalities of El Portal, Miami Shores and the Miami neighborhoods of Liberty City, Little Haiti, Morningside, Overtown and Wynwood.

Jesse Scheckner

Jesse Scheckner has covered South Florida with a focus on Miami-Dade County since 2012. His work has been recognized by the Hearst Foundation, Society of Professional Journalists, Florida Society of News Editors, Florida MMA Awards and Miami New Times. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @JesseScheckner.



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