Former Miami District 2 Commissioner Ken Russell led the pack in fundraising during the first three months of the year.
With the release last week of campaign finance reports for the first quarter of 2025, the race is on for the seven candidates currently competing to replace outgoing Miami Mayor Francis Suarez later this year.
Although more candidates may jump into the race, the reports provide a first glimpse of where the candidates stand, in terms of money raised and donor support.
Highlights include:
- Former Miami District 2 Commissioner Ken Russell raised $52,972 during the first three months of the year – more than any other candidate. With 84 individual donations, he also attracted the most donor support.
- Entrepreneur Max Martinez has stockpiled the most campaign cash to date, with $135,000 in reported donations since December 2023. Almost all of that money – $133,500 of the total – came from Martinez himself, however.
- Candidate Michael Hepburn is also largely self-funded at this point. Hepburn raised $26,544 during the first quarter. To get there, Hepburn made six loans to his campaign totaling $24,998.
- Two other candidates who could be considered front-runners because of their profile and experience – Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins and former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez – reported no fundraising activity during the quarter. Both candidates entered the race this month.
Although Higgins reported no fundraising activity to date, her political committee, Rebranding Politics, had approximately $478,000 on hand at the end of the first quarter, including a $5,000 donation from T Mobile made on February 7.
Of the two remaining candidates in the race, real estate professional June Savage had raised $1,825 by the end of the first quarter, while community activist Ijamyn Joseph Gray of Encouraging Dreamers Breaking Barriers reported zero fundraising activity.
Martinez has run for office before. He ran against Suarez for mayor in 2021, winning 12% of the vote. He also competed against a crowded field of candidates for an open District 2 seat on the Miami City Commission in February 2023. Sabina Covo won that election. Martinez garnered 3% of the vote.
Hepburn ran against Miami Commission chairwoman Christine King in November 2021 for the District 5 commission seat, coming in third with 9% of the vote. If elected, Hepburn would become Miami’s first Black mayor.
Other candidates who may join the race include two veteran pols – Miami District 3 Commissioner Joe Carollo, who has hinted he may run again for the office he’s held before, and former Miami District 1 Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who was suspended from office in September 2023 after being arrested on corruption charges. Those charges have since been dropped.
