Carlos Giménez closes Q3 with $890K on hand

Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez outspent the $139,000 he raised in the third quarter of 2023, leaving himself with about $890,000 on hand and zero debt.

His lone challenger in Florida’s 28th Congressional District, Democrat Marcos Reyes, entered the race this month and won’t have to report any financial activity until next year.

Giménez, the immediate past Mayor of Miami-Dade County, drew donations from a blend of deep-pocketed supporters, retirees, trade groups and corporate interests.

Many of the funds came through Gimenez Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee from which his campaign received nearly $173,000 this cycle.

Altogether, he raised $139,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30. He spent $149,500 over the same span.

He took a maxed-out $6,600 donation — the inflation-adjusted limit candidates can receive through personal donations for the combined Primary and General Election campaigns — from Lewis Stahl, the CEO of homeowners’ association management company NextGen Management.

Stahl, the Vice Chair of the Broward Sheriff’s Advisory Council, received a 30-month prison sentence, was fined $75,000 and ordered to pay more than $6 million in restitution after being convicted of tax evasion in 2019.

As Florida Bulldog reported, Stahl skipped tax payments on $21 million in income. The Internal Revenue Service found he “deliberately avoided filing tax returns, and did not report a dime of income” to the IRS until an agent contacted him.

Giménez has been vocal in his opposition to President Joe Biden’s proposal to increase funding for the IRS, asserting in August 2022 that the U.S. “should be investing in more border agents and more police, not IRS agents to go after hardworking Americans.”

George Feldenkreis, the Chair and CEO of clothing company Perry Ellis International, gave Giménez $2,000 in Q3, adding to $2,500 in prior contributions.

Former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart chipped in $1,000, as did his son, Daniel.

Roger Noriega, a past U.S. diplomat who led ex-President George W. Bush’s foreign policy toward Cuba and Venezuela, gave $500. Jordan Paul, the Vice President of Government Relations for the lobbying firm where Noriega now works, Vision Americas, donated the same sum.

Several trade organizations gave too. The American Council of Engineering Companies donated $4,000. The American Bankers Association, Auto Care Association and Transportation Intermediaries Association gave $2,500 apiece.

Giménez received $2,000 from the Allied Pilots Association, Energy Marketers of America and National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which previously gave $1,000 this cycle.

The National Association of Realtors and National Multifamily Housing Council each donated $1,000.

Giménez also took $2,500 from Honeywell International, which has given him $7,500 this cycle, according to FEC records, and $2,000 each from Lockheed Martin and FedEx.

More than a quarter of his spending, $37,500, covered “fundraising commission” payments to Coral Gables-based consulting firm Columbus Strategies.

Another $52,000 or so paid for consulting from Tampa-based AM Strategies and the Virginia-headquartered firms of Convert Digital and The Theodore Company.

He paid his Deputy Chief of Staff, Madison Hardimon, $3,000 for “campaign consulting.” Another staffer, Rey Anthony Lastre, received the same amount for “media consulting.”

Giménez gave $25,000 to the National Republican Campaign Committee and another $1,000 to fellow Florida Republican Daniel Webster, who represents Florida’s 11th Congressional District.

He also spent $14,400 on an “event facility rental” last month at the Charlotte Football Club in North Carolina and another $1,700 for catering from the Washington, D.C.-based Capitol Hill Club.

The rest of his spending covered general upkeep, storage, web software and airfare.

CD 28 covers a southern portion of Miami-Dade, including Homestead and Florida City, and all of the Keys in Monroe County.

The district alternated blue and red prior to Giménez’s victory in 2020, when he unseated then-incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who is now running against U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.

Giménez won a second two-year term in November, when he defeated former Democratic state Rep. Robert Ascencio and GOP write-in candidate Jeremiah Schaffer with 64% of the vote.

Since then, he’s raised more than $454,000 and spent about $491,000.

Candidates faced a Sunday deadline to report all campaign finance activity through Sept. 30.