There’s a crowded race for Miami-Dade sheriff. Here’s a look at who is raising the most

Douglas Hanks
·3 min read
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In the crowded race for Miami-Dade County sheriff, two candidates are ahead in raising cash from donors with fewer than five months to go before the August primaries.

Republican Joe Sanchez, a former Miami commissioner on leave from his job as a trooper and public information officer at the Florida Highway Patrol, has raised the most, with about $415,000 collected from donors to his campaign and political committee, Law and Order.

Democrat James Reyes, who oversees public safety under the county’s mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, finished the first three months of 2024 behind Sanchez by raising close to $400,000, according to campaign finance reports made public this week.

READ MORE: Who is running for Miami-Dade County sheriff in 2024?

The reports covering donations through March 31 offer the most detailed look yet at the finances of the race that’s attracted more candidates than any other Miami-Dade election this year. The partisan contest has 17 contenders in the GOP-heavy field so far. The contest will narrow to a pair of candidates after the Aug. 20 primary, with each party’s winner heading to a November showdown on Election Day.

The election will be the first for a Miami-Dade sheriff since the 1960s, when voters abolished the office. Currently, Levine Cava oversees the Miami-Dade Police Department as mayor. But a 2018 amendment to the Florida Constitution requires Miami-Dade to join other counties in the state with an elected independent sheriff by 2025, mandating the current contest.

Reyes rose the ranks in the detention system at the Broward County Sheriff’s Office before Levine Cava recruited him to run Miami-Dade’s jails in 2022. She promoted him to chief of public safety weeks before he filed for the sheriff’s race in January. He inherited the political apparatus that was backing Levine Cava’s prior public safety chief, Freddy Ramirez, before he dropped out of the Democratic primary for sheriff following a suicide attempt.

That apparatus included the Miami-Dade Safe and Secure political committee, which had $87,000 in the bank when Reyes joined the race and then proceeded to raise $392,000 from donors. With the dollars raised for Ramirez now available to him, Reyes reported more money in the bank as of April 1 than Sanchez did, with $327,000 cash for Reyes compared to $289,000 for Sanchez.

With Reyes and Sanchez occupying the top tier on the fundraising rankings, here is a look at how the other candidates landed based on their first-quarter reports:

Seven other Miami-Dade sheriff candidates raised more than $100,000

  • Democrat Rickey Mitchell, a retired county officer and funeral director, loaned himself $275,000 of the $292,000 he’s raised

  • Republican Mario Knapp, a retired Miami-Dade Police Department major, with $260,000 raised

  • Republican Ignacio Alvarez, a retired Miami-Dade Police Department major and a lawyer, with $214,000 raised

  • Republican Ernesto Rodriguez, a Miami-Dade Police Department lieutenant, with $175,000 raised

  • Republican Rosanna Cordero-Stutz, an assistant director at the Miami-Dade Police Department, with $166,000 raised

  • Republican John Rivera, a former president of the county police union and retired Miami-Dade Police Department officer, with $143,000 raised

  • Republican Jose Aragu, a Miami-Dade Police Department major, with $137,000 raised

Four candidates raised five figures for the Miami-Dade sheriff race

  • Democrat John Barrow, a Miami-Dade Police Department major, with $70,000 raised

  • Democrat Susan Khoury, a former investigator with federal inspectors general offices, with $39,000 raised

  • Republican Ruamen de la Rua, an officer with the Miami Police Department, with $16,000 raised

  • Republican Orlando Lopez, a Miami-Dade Police Department sergeant, with $15,000 raised

Four Miami-Dade sheriff candidates raised less than $10,000

  • Republican Jeffrey Giordano, a retired Miami police detective, with $3,100 raised

  • Republican Jaspen Bishop, a Miami-Dade Police Department officer, with $2,500 raised

  • Republican Rolando Riera, a Miami-Dade Police Department sergeant, with $1,800 raised

  • Republican Alexander Fornet, owner of a credit-repair business who briefly worked for the Miami-Dade Police Department in 2008, with $180 raised