Hialeah paid Calvo’s political consultant thousands to text about mayor’s events

Hialeah admin October 21, 2026 0 Comments

Hialeah paid Calvo’s political consultant thousands to text about mayor’s events

The city of Hialeah is paying thousands of dollars to a political consulting firm that worked for Mayor Bryan Calvo’s 2025 campaign to send mass text messages focusing on events promoting him.

Hialeah taxpayers paid Dark Horse Strategies and Consulting Inc., headed by Emiliano Antunez, $13,050 for four batches of text messages between April and July, according to public records obtained by the Miami Herald.

“Mayor Bryan Calvo and the City of Hialeah invite you to join our Earth Day Clean Up Tomorrow, Saturday, April 25, starting at 10:00 A.M.,” one message read.

An invitation to a World Cup event was written in the first person and sent on June 10th: “I’m excited to invite you and your family to the Mayor’s Cup Fan Fest on Saturday, June 13, at Factory Town as we celebrate the FIFA World Cup 2026.”

The city has sent residents at least six different mass text messages through the political consulting firm.

Campaign finance records show that Calvo’s political action committee, Let’s Fix Hialeah, paid Antunez’s firm $171,000 for consulting work during his campaign. The PAC’s most recent payment to the firm was in January, days after Calvo was sworn in as mayor.

Three months after Calvo took office, the city began paying the firm to send promotional text messages to residents.

The city’s social media accounts have increasingly centered on Calvo personally, portraying the mayor as the driving force behind Hialeah’s accomplishments and emphasizing his leadership, even as many of the projects and expenditures highlighted were funded through budgets approved by his predecessors.

According to text messages received by residents and shared with the Herald, they came from a phone number that did not identify itself as belonging to the city. The messages promoted events including the Earth Day Cleanup, the Mayor’s Cup Fan Fest, the grand reopening of Bucky Dent Water Park, Cortaditos with the Mayor and town-hall meetings.

The Bucky Dent Water Park reopening was followed days later by the Florida Department of Health’s closure of three pools after an inspection prompted by a complaint about unsafe conditions revealed 34 violations.

The city’s payments for the text messages break down as follows:

The city was charged $4,425 for sending 54,500 text messages on April 24 promoting its Earth Day Clean Up.
The city was charged $4,100 for sending 52,900 text messages on June 10 publicizing the Mayor’s Cup Fan Fest, a World Cup celebration held June 13 at Factory Town, an outdoor music and entertainment venue in Hialeah that Calvo frequently visits. Although Hialeah was not hosting any FIFA World Cup matches, the city organized the event under the mayor’s name.
The city was charged $500 for sending 3,030 messages on June 25, announcing a town hall meeting.
The city was charged $4,025 for sending 51,000 messages on July 1 inviting residents to the Fourth of July, the 250 anniversary of American independence this year. Hialeah is known for having one of the biggest annual celebration of Independence Day in South Florida.

The four payments totaled $13,050.

Antunez told the Herald that he calculates the cost of his work based on the number of residents he reaches. He said text messages about Calvo’s activities are “more effective” than radio or newspaper advertising because they reach the intended audience directly.

City records also show three additional orders services for Dark Horse Strategies and Consulting Inc., one for $1,880 in August and others for $785 and $875 in September.

The available records do not establish whether the city paid those amounts. However, Antunez told the Herald that Hialeah had already paid his August services, although the city has not yet provided the payment records.

The four payments and the three additional orders total $16,590.

While campaigning for mayor in 2025, Calvo made a promise about being careful with taxpayers’ money. The statement came amid the Miami Herald’s investigation into how former Mayor Esteban Bovo spent $45,000 on a farewell party.

“As mayor, I’ll make sure every public dollar serves the public good — not politicians’ ego,” Calvo said in a campaign statement at the time.

The Herald attempted to reach Calvo, his spokesperson and his chief of staff, but none were for available for comment.

Under the previous administration of Jacqueline Garcia-Roves, the city paid for radio advertising to promote its annual Fourth of July celebration in 2025, which coincided with Hialeah’s centennial year.

The city also previously operated a messaging system to notify residents about street closures and emergencies. However, available records do not show that any administration before Calvo’s paid political consultants to send mass text messages promoting town hall meetings or other mayoral activities.

Council members were unaware of the spending on text messages when the Herald asked. Under city rules, expenditures exceeding $25,000 or involving a recurring vendor require council approval. Dark Horse Strategies and Consulting Inc. is $9,000 away from reaching that threshold.

This story was originally published October 21, 2026 at 3:41 PM.