Jesse Scheckner
Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez tapped a variety of deep-pocketed donors to outraise his lone Democratic challenger in Florida’s 28th Congressional District, Phil Ehr, three times over in the second quarter of 2024.
Between April 1 and June 30, Giménez added $158,500 to his campaign coffers. He wiped out those gains by spending $160,000, but still entered July with more than $1 million.
Giménez and Ehr both took ample contributions from donors outside of CD 28, which spans a southern portion of Miami-Dade County, including Homestead, Florida City, and all of Monroe County.
But the incumbent enjoyed support from a far wealthier donor base. He received personal checks totaling $6,600 — the maximum allowable by law, representing $3,300 apiece for the Primary and General Elections — which are considered separate races — from several noteworthy figures.
Among them: Dallas billionaire investment analyst Ken Fisher; Bill Austin, founder and Chair of Minnesota-based hearing aid company Starkey; and Craig Duchossois, Executive Chair of The Duchossois Group, a privately held Chicago investment company with more than $3 billion in assets, including ownership stakes in Churchill Downs racetrack, rail businesses and defense manufacturing corporations.
Fisher’s wife, Sherrilyn, and Austin’s wife, Tani, each gave $6,600 as well.
Giménez also received $4,500 from Jeff Broin, the founder and CEO of South Dakota-based biofuel company POET and $1,000 apiece from Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera and Monroe School Board member Andy Griffiths.
As was the case in Q1, Giménez’s biggest cash infusion — $60,000 — came from Emmer Majority Builders, a committee that Majority Whip Tom Emmer launched last year to support 31 GOP incumbents and candidates. Combined with prior transfers, Emmer Majority Builders has given nearly $87,000 to Giménez this cycle.
Gimenez Victory Committee, an associated joint fundraising committee, kicked in $8,700. A political action committee (PAC) associated with Texas U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzalez gave $5,000.
Sugar farmers turned up for Giménez last quarter. He accepted $2,000 from the American Sugar Cane League, $1,000 from the Florida Sugar Cane League and Michigan Sugar Co., and $500 from the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.
Aerospace and travel interests gave as well, including $2,500 from Amazon owner Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company, $2,500 from Delta Air Lines, $2,000 from a PAC of RTX Corp. rail company employees and $1,000 each from Boeing and California-based rail company Herzog Contracting Corp.
The American Council of Engineers gave $3,500. The National Association of Realtors donated $3,000. So did the U.S. Israel PAC.
A PAC for Lockheed Martin Corp. employees added $1,000 more, bringing its total donations to Giménez this cycle to $3,000.
Giménez’s biggest single expenditure, $50,000, was a contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee. He also gave $1,000 apiece to the re-election campaigns of U.S. Reps. Juan Ciscomani of Arizona and Mike Lawler of New York.
He spent $25,000 to rent event space at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix at Hard Rock Stadium in early May.
He also paid $20,000 to Coral Gables-based ZBD Group Inc., close to $18,000 to Miami-based Rey Anthony Lasarte, $8,000 to Madison Hardimon in Virginia and $6,000 to Professional Data Services in Georgia, all for various consulting services.
The rest of his spending covered email services, software, travel, lodging, shipping, food, and donation- and credit card-processing fees.
Ehr, a retired Navy Commander, raised $58,000 and spent $89,500 in Q2. He ended the quarter with just over $17,000 in his campaign account and more than $270,000 worth of debt for outstanding consulting, compliance, legal services and software expenditures, plus roughly $17,400 in self-loans.
He took a much more grassroots approach to fundraising last quarter than the man he hopes to supplant in November, receiving hundreds of three-figure donations through Democratic platform ActBlue.
One of his biggest benefactors was Miami Heat Senior Vice President and General Manager Andrew Elisburg, who gave $4,300.
Ehr received no contributions from political or corporate organizations.
More than half his spending covered consulting services, including $21,000 for general consulting from Jake Briggs of New Jersey, $14,000 for strategic consulting from Jacksonville-based Umunna Legal Group, and $12,000 for outreach from Miami-based activist and political organizer Vanessa Brito.
He also paid $10,000 for translation services from Caiman Com LLC, a St. Petersburg company that launched in January.
The rest of his spending covered travel, lodging, donation-processing fees, bank fees, web services, compliance services, texting, accounting, software and video production.
Both candidates paid a $10,440 qualifying fee with the Florida Division of Elections.
The Federal Election Commission lists two other Democrats, Jacqueline Boulin Romain and Marcos Reyes, as also running in CD 28. Neither has raised or spent a cent since filing last year, and the Florida Division of Elections does not list them as active candidates.
Candidates faced a Monday deadline to report all campaign finance activity through June 30.
