Dinah Escarment leads outside money race for HD 108 as Daphne Campbell leans more on self-funding

Former state Sen. Daphne Campbell led fundraising for the open seat representing House District 108 last quarter, but only if you count a sizable self-loan that accounted for nearly 90% of her gains.

Otherwise, Campbell’s Primary opponent, Democratic State Committeewoman Dinah Escarment, won the race’s most recent money contest — but only by a bit.

Campbell reported raising $67,400 between Jan. 1 and March 31. Just $7,400 came from outside donors. The rest came from her bank account and is fully refundable if unspent.

Escarment, meanwhile, collected $30,200, of which $20,000 was self-given. Notably, she did not earmark the self-sourced funds as a loan.

Campbell’s first-quarter fundraising, which came entirely through her campaign account, included four donations totaling $2,100 from people with the same last name as her, all listing the same address.

She received 37 outside contributions altogether. averaging $200.

Only two were from businesses.

One, for $1,000, came from a company called Cargo Logistics USA & Services in North Miami Beach.

The other, for $500, was from a business Campbell listed as All Tier Marketing and Consulting, whose Plantation address matches the mailing address of former Broward County Mayor Dale Holness, who is running for Congress.

Campbell spent $4,010 last quarter. Of that, $4,000 went to a company with a Doral address called Bolo Group LLC, whose registered agent, Alfredo Costa Lamanna, is a Rotterdam, South Holland, resident whose LinkedIn page says he works as an account manager for residential rental company HousingAnywhere.

Campbell noted the expenditure was for her campaign kickoff in late February.

She filed paperwork to run for HD 108 last May.

Since then, she raised $68,600. She had $64,600 heading into April.

Escarment, who works as a radio host and tax, immigration and real estate services executive, received 50 outside contributions through her campaign account last quarter. None came from businesses or political committees.

Her average donation was $173.

Three people with her last name gave her a combined $1,550.

She also reported $450 worth of in-kind aid from a Miami-based information technology specialist for social media advice.

More than half of the $1,900 Escarment spent in Q1 covered advertising. The rest went to printing, flyers and campaign apparel.

A lone Republican in the race — technically — is party flip-flopper and perennial candidate Wancito Francius, who reported no campaign finance activity last quarter.

He reported raising just $200 since entering the HD 108 contest in August, while flagging $750 in spending on campaign treasurer costs.

Between when he filed to run and this month, Francius — who inspired legislation that passed this year tightening party qualifying rules for candidates — racked up four reporting violation notices.

The most recent was an audit letter sent to his Treasurer, Frantz Michel of Miami, for “errors or violations” of reporting strictures.

In April, a letter the Division of Elections mailed Francius came back as undeliverable.

HD 108 covers a strip of northeast Miami-Dade County, including all of Biscayne Park, El Portal and Miami Shores Village, and portions of North Miami and Miami, including parts of Little Haiti and Wynwood.

The 22-square-mile district is reliably Democratic and majority-Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and includes a significant portion of South Florida’s residents of Haitian descent.

North Miami Democratic Rep. Dotie Jospeh has represented HD 108 since 2018, when she won her seat with 92% of the vote.

She must leave office in November due to term limits.

The 2026 Primary Election is on Aug. 18, followed by the General Election on Nov. 3.