Jose Regalado is winning fundraising race in Miami's D4 special election

In the two weeks after the city of Miami scheduled a special election to fill the commission vacancy caused by the death of Manolo Reyes, the two candidates have raised almost $100,000 combined. And local favorite Jose Regalado — of those Regalados — who quit his job as assistant building director to run for office at the request of Reyes’ widow, out-raised urban planner Ralph Rosado, who was basically fired from his job as city manager of North Bay Village (more on that later), almost three to one.

Regalado reported a total of $67,470 in contributions raised through May 2, while Rosado had a total of $26,454, according to their first campaign finance reports, filed Friday.

The contributions in Regalado’s report are also from a diverse group of sources. Meanwhile, the contributions in Rosado’s report include bundles from four sources that add up more than half of his take for the one month period. He’s got $5,000 each from developer Sergio Rok and the owners of the Green Acres Trailer Park, $3,000 from the owners of Adonel Concrete and $2,000 from real estate investor Robert Sckalor.

They both have quite a few contributions from lobbyists, including South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez, who gave to both candidates, hedging his bets. One interesting gift is a $250 check to Rosado, a rabid Republican, from former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner, an uber Democrat former state rep who ran against Jose Regalado’s sister, Raquel Regalado, for county commission twice and lost both times. That looks like an obvious example of emotional spending.

Ladra hopes she feels better.

Jose Regalado has some bundles, too. He has $5,000 from gasoline mogul Max Alvarez and $3,000 from developer Jorge Salazar. But there are far more actual people giving to his campaign than to Rosado’s. His expenses are also higher, with more than $10,000 spent on radio and $1,500 for professional photos.

Rosado’s expenses include almost $2,500 in yard signs and $914 for text messages.

Both of the candidates also have political action committees spending money on their respective campaigns.

Rosado has the benefit of Commissioner Joe Carollo‘s PAC, Miami First, sending mailers and paying for other messaging on his behalf. It recently sent a mailer that said Jose Regalado wants to bring red light cameras back to Miami. It’s not true. It’s a tired old Carollo campaign smear he used on Tommy Regalado, the elder son of the former mayor, when both ran for commission in 2017. It was Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, who was Miami mayor from 2009 to 2017, who championed red light cameras once upon a time.

By the way, so did Carollo, who was city manager in Doral when the city was installing its own traffic cameras.

Regalado has Proven Leadership for Miami, a PAC chaired by Miami River Commission Chairman Horacio Aguirre for the candidate’s father, Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, who was Miami mayor from 2009 to 2017.

Voters won’t get any information on the PAC contributions and expenses until a month after the election. There will be two more campaign finance reports filed with the city clerk’s office before the June 3 special election: one on the 23rd and one on the 30th, four days before the election — and also the day that early voting begins.

The deadline to request a vote-by-mail or absentee ballot is May 22.

Joe Carollo, Jose Regalado, Miami elections, Ralph Rosado