Miami District 4 race is a referendum on Joe Carollo and his abuse of power

And the voters’ decision could mark the city’s future
The fate of Miami over the next decade is in the hands of a tiny number of people.
There are 46,730 registered voters in city commission District 4. Of those, only 3,632 have voted via absentee or vote-by-mail ballot (2,298) and the three days of early voting (1,334) that ended Sunday. Turnout is not expected to be very much above 10%, if it reaches that. If 5,000 people vote, that means that .01 percent of the population of the city of Miami will decide the victor.
And while it’s just a D4 race — for voters from Flagami, Coral Gate, Shenandoah and other neighborhoods — whoever wins Tuesday will decide the future of the whole city — with immediate votes on lifetime term limits, moving the election to even years and whether or not to continue an investigation into the improper and possibly illegal expenditures of the Bayfront Park Management Trust.
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
It could also decide whether or not Commissioner Joe Carollo, who was the chair of the Trust and is the subject of the investigation and a lawsuit for wrongful termination, stays in power for eight more years.

If Carollo’s candidate, urban planner and former Bay Harbor Islands manager Ralph Rosado — who was forced to resign before he got fired — beats former Miami Assistant Building Director Jose Regalado, the son and brother of two famous Miami-Dade electeds, then Carollo will have the third vote, the majority he needs to move his agenda along.
And to retaliate against those who cross him.
Read related: Ralph Rosado is a fraud, liar, puppet trying to become Miami commissioner
He will ditch Commissioner Miguel Gabela‘s chairmanship of the Bayfront Trust and put himself back in charge before the forensic audit and investigation finds any more of his abuse of the public funds, and possible criminal conduct. He will kill the lifetime term limits, which would block him from running for mayor again. And also kill the moving of the elections to even years, because he has a much better chance against the current clown car of candidates than he would in 2026 (more on that later).
Carollo will wreak havoc on the commission with the majority, which he could maintain if he becomes mayor. ¡Solavaya!
But if Regalado wins, then he will likely side with Gabela and Commissioner Damian Pardo on the lifetime term limits and moving the elections and a number of other reformist issues — like limiting outside legal counsel costs for commissioners (read: Carollo) — that would drive Crazy Joe more loco. In fact, it could be fun to watch Carollo get thwarted and repeated frustrated by a lack of majority (read: power) to do anything on the commission. Karma in action.
This is why the race has turned into a referendum on Carollo. Three other potential mayoral candidates — Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla and former Miami city manager Emilio Gonzalez — have been supporting Regalado (more on that later).
Read related: Commissioner Miguel Gabela set to expose more Bayfront Park Trust issues
Higgins went on Actualidad 1260 AM morning radio last week to endorse Regalado. Gonzalez has been campaigning in District 4 more than anywhere else and spreading Regalado’s platform as well as his own. And ADLP — who has also been campaigning in District 4 and was at early voting every day —  even has a mailer or handout that tells voters to pick Regalado, paid for by his political action committee. He was seen by many hanging out with the Regalado team — including Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado and Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado — at early voting Sunday at the Shenandoah branch library.
It seems that in this race, you are with Team Regalado or Team Carollo, who has been directing Rosado’s campaign and using his own political action committee to pay for mailers and TV ads.
There is a reason why Carollo is spending hundreds of thousands — some observers say up to a million — to push Rosado’s election. There is a reason why he attacks the whole Regalado family and campaigns passionately and aggressively for Rosado in every morning radio show he hosts (more on that later). It is in his own best interest. Rosado has already come out against moving the elections, which would extend the current terms a year and against term limits, so that Carollo can run next year instead.
Meanwhile, he’ll get the Bayfront Trust back and its millions to misspend and giveaway to his cronies for another year.
In other words, Carollo’s very existence depends on Rosado’s election Tuesday.
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