Alina García, J.C. Planas qualify for Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections race

Miami Rep. Alina García, a Republican, and former Rep. Juan Carlos “J.C.” Planas, a Democrat, have qualified for the race to be Miami-Dade’s next Supervisor of Elections (SOE).

Each paid $13,149 to qualify on Monday, when they and three others seeking the SOE job also turned in campaign finance reports for the April-May period.

García outraised Planas significantly in the two-month span, adding more than $102,000 to her campaign account and political committee, Florida Always First.

Planas, meanwhile, raised close to $7,000 through his account and PC.

Democratic political consultant Willis Howard outpaced Planas with an $18,600 haul of which $15,000 was self-loaned.

Democrat Arnie Weiss, a digital media entrepreneur, added $1,200 between May 24 and the end of the month.

Republican lawyer Megan Pearl raised the same sum but dropped out of the race late last month after Donald Trump endorsed García.

As of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, only García and Planas have qualified.

“First and foremost, I want to thank God, for all I am comes from Him. My family, friends and colleagues, thank you for your support and encouragement,” García said in a statement. “Yesterday, I qualified as a candidate for Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections. I will ensure the Department of Elections continues to run with transparency, fairness and integrity.”

Planas, who changed his voter registration from Republican to Democrat in response to Trump’s attacks on voter rights and lies that the 2020 election was stolen, said he was proud of his team’s work to position him strongly this election and get his name on the ballot.

“My reason for running is clear: democracy in America is under attack and we need public servants who will always defend our free and fair elections,” he said. “To all our incredible and passionate supporters and volunteers, thank you and let’s keep marching toward victory in November!”

She accepted 191 contributions in April and May from a blend of people, businesses and PCs. Many of her donors work or operate in real estate and construction businesses.

She also spent about $7,600, leaving herself with more than $380,000 to spend through Election Day.

Planas received 19 contributions in the same stretch. The biggest was a $5,000 check from Johan Pfeiffer, the managing director and operating partner of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.

He had about $26,000 left going into June, not counting the $500,000 an unaffiliated PC called Friends of JC Planas, which is supporting his campaign, still holds. All of that money came from mortgage loan originator Eduardo Fernandez.

Howard, a well-established political player in Miami-Dade who worked as a strategic consultant for Andrew Gillum’s gubernatorial campaign and more recently as Chief of Staff to suspended North Miami Beach Mayor Anthony DeFillipo, still had nearly $56,000 on hand — most of it for his bank account.

Candidates faced a Monday deadline to report all campaign finance activity through May 31.

The Primary Election is on Aug. 20, followed by the General Election on Nov. 5.

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Editor’s note: This report was updated to include a comment from García.