A Broward County School Board member is betting heavily on himself ahead of a competitive August Primary.
Adam Cervera announced this week that he has contributed $250,000 to his District 6 campaign, bringing his self-reported total fundraising and personal contributions between his campaign account and new political committee to more than $340,000.
Official campaign finance reports covering the period between April 1 and May 31 are due June 10.
Any or all of the $250,000 self-loan, like all candidate self-loans, is fully refundable to Cervera if unspent.
“This race is too important to leave to chance. I am putting my money where my mouth is because I care deeply about the future of our schools, our students, and our teachers. This campaign is not just about winning an election, it is about fighting for the resources, accountability, safety, and leadership our school system deserves,” Cervera said.
“Our students deserve every opportunity to succeed, and our teachers deserve leaders who will fight for them every single day. I am personally invested in this campaign because I am personally invested in their success. I believe in Broward’s public schools, and I am prepared to continue doing the hard work necessary to make them stronger.”
Cervera, a lawyer and Becker & Poliakoff shareholder whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to the School Board in 2024, has since positioned himself as a watchdog for accountability and fiscal responsibility on the panel.
In December, he publicly called for the resignation of Broward Public Schools Chief Operations Officer Wanda Paul, citing a terminated $2.6 million office lease that drew a lawsuit and a botched construction procurement process that Board members described as an “existential threat” and a “five-alarm fire.” Paul tendered her resignation the following day.
Through March 31, the last date from which campaign finance reports are available, he raised about $83,000, of which $50,000 was self-loaned.
He faces four challengers in the Aug. 18 Primary.
The field includes Broward Soil and Water Conservation District member Jessie Bastos, who raised $43,000 through the end of March, $30,000 of which was self-given; Army Reserve veteran and educator Roberto Fernandez III, who collected $23,000, with more than $6,000 in self-funded in-kind expenditures; 20-year-old Nova High School graduate Makai Henry, the son of a Broward union teacher who has been working as a substitute teacher for Broward schools; and aftercare entrepreneur Lester Wilks, who reported $8,000, all self-loaned.
Because the School Board is a technically nonpartisan body, all candidates appear on the same ballot. A candidate must clear 50% to win outright; otherwise, the top two advance to a Nov. 3 runoff.
