Tech, developers help Miami mayor’s reelection campaign break $2.5M in fundraising
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez raised $830,000 in April for his reelection effort, another massive haul fueled by real estate, tech, energy and healthcare interests.
Suarez, a 43-year-old real estate attorney running for a second term, raised about $796,100 for his political committee, Miami For Everyone. Suarez’s reelection campaign account, which is separate from his political committee and can receive maximum contributions of $1,000, raised an additional $34,750 in April, city records show.
Though he has yet to draw an established opponent, the mayor has raised more than $2.7 million this year, a pace faster than previous campaigns. The largest donations came from a venture capitalist, healthcare investor and local developer with multiple properties in Coconut Grove.
David O. Sacks, a tech investor and one of PayPal’s founding executives, gave Suarez’s committee $50,000. Suarez hosted Sacks at City Hall on April 13 to record one of his “cafecito talk” videos he regularly promotes on social media. Records show the committee received a check from Sacks on April 21.
Suarez’s tech relationships have yielded hefty campaign donations since January, including $250,000 from billionaire and former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya, $100,000 from Shutterstock founder Jonathan Oringer in February and $75,000 from the company behind retail delivery startup goPuff in March. In April, another venture capitalist, Basement Fund founder Moshe Lifschitz, contributed $5,000.
The largest bundle of contributions in April came from healthcare investor Harris Schwartzberg and affiliated companies. Schwartzberg personally gave $50,000. Three affiliated companies contributed another $130,000. Separately, a chain of affiliated senior care and rehabilitation centers across Florida gave $20,000 directly to Suarez’s reelection campaign.
A bevy of real estate and construction interests also poured $280,000 into Suarez’s political committee, Miami For Everyone. Drive Development, developer of cube-like homes in Coconut Grove, gave $50,000. The company, owned by Douglas Cox, and its affiliates previously pumped $100,000 into Suarez’s 2018 effort to make himself the city’s top administrator. Voters rejected the proposal.
Panorama Tower developer Tibor Hollo contributed $35,000. Kasim Badak, a principal in the Okan Tower project, gave $25,000. Rishi Kapoor, developer of co-working and co-working spaces, gave $25,000. Miami Worldcenter developer Nitin Motwani gave $5,000.
Investment manager, philanthropist and former Goldman Sachs executive Doug Kimmelman gave the committee $55,000. In 2019, a trust led by Kimmelman bought a $35 million penthouse at the Four Seasons Residences at The Surf Club in Surfside.
Companies affiliated with real estate development firm Vestcor gave $10,000 in bundled contributions directly to Suarez’s campaign. Vestcor’s chairman is John Rood, a former ambassador to the Bahamas who has advised Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Suarez’s fundraising is fueling a campaign that has so far drawn only two political newcomers as challengers, Maxwell Manuel Martinez and Anthony Melvin Dutrow. The qualifying period for the Nov. 2 election is in September.
Miami For Everyone is not required to spend its money on Suarez’s reelection bid.
This story was originally published May 11, 2021 at 1:15 PM.
