Mucarsel-Powell outraises Gimenez in District 26 race

WASHINGTON

The money race in South Florida’s most competitive congressional election continues to favor Democrats.

Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell raised over $835,000 in the last three months while her most likely Republican challenger, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, raised over $617,000. Both campaigns announced the totals in news releases. Campaigns must file complete reports detailing the names of donors and size of donations to the Federal Elections Commission Wednesday.

Mucarsel-Powell has a sizable lead over Gimenez in cash-on-hand. Her campaign said she has over $2.8 million to spend while the Gimenez campaign said he has $860,000 to spend. The bulk of that money will likely be spent on advertising in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

“The grassroots energy powering our campaign reflects the congresswoman’s tireless commitment to fight for her community and a complete lack of enthusiasm for her opponent who has allowed MiamiDade County to become the new worldwide epicenter of COVID-19,” MucarselPowell campaign manager Andrew Markoff said in a statement.

Mucarsel-Powell’s campaiagn said she received 6,337 contributions from 4,758 individuals in the latest quarter, and 5,704 of those contributions were small-dollar donations of less than $200.

Gimenez’s campaign said the money he has brought in shows widespread support. “Mayor Gimenez continues to attract deep and broad support for his campaign, despite not being able to hold in-person events, because of his outstanding leadership and record of accomplishment as MiamiDade mayor,” Gimenez spokesperson Nicole Rapanos said in a statement. “Voters will have a clear contrast in November between Debbie MucarselPowell and her record as the 409th least bi-partisan member of Congress and Carlos Gimenez’s record of cutting taxes, reforming government and record-setting job creation as Miami-Dade mayor.”

Miami-Dade firefighter Omar Blanco, who is challenging Gimenez in the

GOP primary, said Tuesday he raised “about $40,000” in the latest fundraising quarter. “Money doesn’t decide races. The voters do,” Blanco said. “And that’s the beauty of this electoral process.”

Democratic incumbents in tough districts around the country have, with a few exceptions, out-raised their GOP challengers in recent months. And despite widespread fears that the coronavirus pandemic would hamper political fundraising efforts as in-person campaign events have stopped, both Mucarsel-Powell and Gimenez raised more money in April, May and June than they did in January, February and March. Mucarsel-Powell raised $742,000 in the first quarter while Gimenez raised $393,000.