In the final three months before his re-election last week, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago raised more than $389,000 for his political action committee, Coral Gables First, spending almost $330,000 on direct mail, email, text messaging, digital ads, political consulting, canvassing, polls and fundraising.
These contributions did not become public until two days after the election, in the first quarter 2025 campaign finance report that was filed Thursday. And they only include contributions and expenses made through March 31, leaving more than a week out before the April 8 election.
Read related: Vince Lago, Rhonda Anderson handily coast to re-election in Coral Gables
They include some interesting financial commitments from some interesting sources:

$50,000 from real estate developer Stuart Miller, executive chairman and co-chief executive officer of Lennar Corporation.
$25,000 from real estate developer Dagrosa Capital Partners, where Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is senior partner.
$20,000 in 20 separate $1,000 checks from real estate investor Tomas Cabrerizo.
$15,000 from investor Rafael Villoldo, who launched a scent with Donald Trump in 2012 when the former was vice president of Perfumania.
$12,000 from attorney Gonzalo Dorta, who is representing Lago in his lawsuit against Actualidad Radio.
$10,000 from The Calta Group, which is building Via Veneto, a luxury development of 10 three-story townhouses on Palermo Avenue with pre-construction prices starting $5.7 million.
$10,000 from Boston Capital, an asset management company that owns a mini storage facility in Kendall.
$10,000 from Republican super donor Max Alvarez of Sunshine Gasoline Distributors.
$7,500 from Andres Rodriguez, owner of The Salty Donut.
$5,000 from real estate investor Pablo Cejas.
$5,000 from the PAC that belongs to former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, the same PAC that got more than $200,000 in contributions that were flagged as bribes from the owners of a private school the commissioner wanted to gift a public park to. He was arrested on bribery and money laundering charges in 2023 that were later dropped.

Maybe that last one was a you scratch my back situation, since Lago gave ADLP’s PAC $5,000 in 2023, just six weeks before the latter was arrested.
Some of Lago’s expenses are interesting also, like the $22,575 (plus $8,500 last year) that went to Emiliano Antuñez, who also worked on the campaign for Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, mostly for door-knocking. That’s nothing compared to the more than $110,000 paid to head campaign consultant Jesse Manzano just since January.
Other expenses include $45,000 worth of TV and cable advertising, more than $35,000 in direct mail, more than 33,200 in phone banks, more than $15,000 in photo and video production, and $27,740 on his digital footprint and social media, not including $16,250 in media consulting paid to Daniel Bustamante. And that is just in the past few weeks.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago rakes in campaign funds, much from developers
When added together, the $478,475 raised in Lago’s campaign account and the $389,000 raised for his PAC just this year, the total is $867,475. Doing more math shows that if you divide that by the 5,577 people who voted for Vinnie the Liar, the mayor basically paid $155.55 for each vote. And that’s not counting the PAC money from 2024. It’s probably more around $200.
In comparison, Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who lost with 38% of the vote, raised $32,500 for his PAC, The Coral Gables Way. A third of that was from different firefighters unions and another third was from real estate interests. Added to the $41,000 raised in his campaign account — which is almost as much as Lago spent just on text messages since January — that’s total of $73,500 through March 31. Divided by the 3,792 people who voted for him, that’s $19.38 per vote.
Both those figures will very likely go up once we get the campaign finance reports for the first eight days in April. But one thing that won’t change is the lopsided funding in this race and the special interests investments.
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In the race for Coral Gables mayor, the campaign financing is super lopsided. Incumbent Mayor Vince Lago has out-fundraised Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who has challenged him — more than 16 to 1.
After coming in with a negative total in his December report, Lago’s campaign finance reports show he has raised $263,825 just since January, with $108,750 coming in the first two weeks of February. These last couple of months and the first week of March have doubled his take since last year to $430,925.
A lot of his contributions are still coming in at the $1,000 maximum amount, and a whole lot of it is not from Coral Gables, with addresses in Doral, Virginia Gardens, Hialeah, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami proper and as far away as Minneapolis, Baltimore, and Kirkland, Washington.
A lot of it is also from real estate developers and construction industry folks who know a friendly pol when they see one.
There are also a few bundles, which is one person or group contributing more than the maximum $1,000 through relatives and multiple companies. This includes $15,000 from former Commissioner Frank Quesada and John H. Ruiz, the University of Miami booster whose LifeWallet company was placed under civil and criminal investigations last year amid fraud allegations and billions of dollars that disappeared. The company was also sued by Cano Health, which alleged it was a “Ponzi scheme.”

Also listed is at least $5,000 each from the Agave developers, developer Lissette Calderon, contractor Carlos Marquez, another $4,000 between Jesse Manzano, his campaign consultant, and Ralph Garcia-Toledo — the two have a development firm together. Don’t feel too bad for Manzano, though, because he’s been paid more than $24,000 just since January for consulting and research.
Read related: Kirk Menendez strikes back at Coral Gables Mayor ‘Lyin’ Vince Lago’
This does not include anything raised by his political action committee, Coral Gables First, which hasn’t reported any transaction since last year.
In comparison, Menendez — who does not have a political action committee — has raised nearly $26,000 in total, since January of last year. He raised $8,480 since the beginning of this year. Only 12 of the 67 individual contributions are the $1,000 maximum donation. The great majority are from the Gables. And there are no bundles.
Gables voters are not easily swayed by fancy advertisements and slick videos. Two years ago, Commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez beat better funded candidates who had Lago’s support, which shows the mayor’s impact among voters is waning.
Because a lot of the people who donated to Lago’s campaign, unlike those who donated to Kirk’s, can’t vote in the city election.
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State Rep. Alina Garcia, a Republican abandoning her seat to run for Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, has raised the most of five candidates in the race — and more than both Democrats combined, according to finance reports filed this week for the first quarter of the year.

Garcia reported collecting $125,647 in her campaign account, which is more than twice as much as both former State Rep. JC Planas, the local politicos’ go-to attorney for election law, has raised ($54,856), and political consultant Willis Howard has raised ($44,040).

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Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the seven incumbent commissioners up for re-election raised more than $1.7 million between them in the first quarter of the year, according to finance reports filed this week. This includes the $635,185 raised between them in their respective campaign accounts and another $1 million plus in political action committee funds.

About of a third of last quarter’s take is for the four candidates who are as of yet unopposed.

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August 10th came and went and there were no campaign finance reports filed in Florida for state candidates. Or for county candidates. Or for city candidates.

Did anybody else notice this had happened?

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Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, whose term ends in November, has raised $640,000 for his political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade. But we still don’t know if he’s going to use those funds for a re-election campaign — he has not yet filed any paperwork for that — or a mayoral run, which is what everyone knows he really wants.

Only $8,000, all from the electrical workers union — with which The Dean has a special relationship — came into the account in February. That means the other $633K was raised in two months — $287,500 in March and $345,523 in April.

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