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DeSantis campaign taps red-hot Florida real estate industry
The event was a new frontier for Popack, who did not return requests seeking comment. He has never been a regular on Florida’s campaign finance circuit and is not a longtime political donor. Popack does, however, have one thing in common with a new breed of DeSantis donors: He’s part of Florida’s red-hot real estate market. Over the past year, DeSantis and his aligned political committee have raised more than $7 million from real estate developers, investors and realtors, making that industry one of the Republican governor’s biggest donor groups as he prepares to run for reelection — and maybe president. DeSantis’ reelection campaign, which declined to comment for this…
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The great church property flip: Florida pastors seek salvation in real estate | Christianity
In a gray sharkskin suit and aviator sunglasses, Pastor Christopher Benek stands on a patch of astroturf at the edge of the First Miami Presbyterian church parking lot. “Here’s the thing,” he says. “Right now this is a parking lot.” A developer has a plan to make it much more than that, and Benek is buying in. Benek was hired in 2018 as a “crisis-management specialist” to lead First Miami Presbyterian, the oldest congregation in the city, away from what seemed like impending ruin. The church has been a fixture in the community since 1896, peaking in membership at about 1,400 in the late 1980s before dwindling to 140 in…
