Miami commissioners should shorten their terms for election year change

Expect lawsuits and challenges to follow term extension
Most people think that moving the city elections in Miami from odd to even years, to coincide with the midterm and general election, is a good idea to both save more than $1 million a year and, more importantly, boost turnout from the low two-digits to more than 65% or 70%.
But there is a better way of doing it than what happened Thursday, when three commissioners voted to cancel this November’s election for mayor and commissioner in dictricts 3 and 5 and move it to 2026 — and, effectively, give themselves an extra year in office. Which, by the way, could be a violation of the city’s own charter and Miami-Dade county’s ethics laws, which prohibit electeds from voting for anything that benefits themselves — like an extra year in office and the salaries and benefits that provides.
They each just voted to give themselves an extra $100,000 or so. Ladra smells a Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust investigation.
Read related: Miami Commissioners pass election date change — and steal an extra year
Expect lawsuits and injunctions to stop the ordinance from taking place. The Florida Attorney General had said earlier in the week that the state would not stand by and allow this without going to a public vote. AG James Uthmeier‘s office has not returned calls for reaction to Thursday’s vote. Probably too busy planning and boasting about Alligator Alcatraz (more on that later). Other candidates have also said they were preparing to take legal action.
But if this stands, voters will have just elected Ralph Rosado, who voted in favor of the change, to a five-year term. Chairwoman Christine King, who also voted for the change — surprisingly, since as a lawyer she usually likes to avoid legal challenges — won’t have to run for re-election until next year. And Commissioner Joe Carollo, who voted against it, is not termed out this year, but next year. The first terms for Commissioners Miguel Gabela, who voted against it, and Damian Pardo, who sponsored this ordinance and was the third vote in favor, would be five years long as their re-elections are moved from 2027 to 2028.
Which brings up another point, this change flies in the face of the decision that voters did make in 2012 to limit terms to a total of eight years. With this change, every single one of the commissioners up there, whether they voted for it or not, could get nine.
Or would they be barred from running again after serving the first five years?
Expect at least one of the legal challenges to be based on that.
Which leads us to the better way: Rob Piper, the leader of the 2020 recall effort against Carollo who is, or was, running for commission in District 3, said Thursday during public comments that he would be willing to shorten his term by a year if voters passed the change on the ballot. “But cancelling the election is undemocratic,” Piper said.
Former Commissioner Ken Russell, who is, or was, running for mayor told Political Cortadito that he would, also, take a year off his term if voters approved it beforehand. The petitions circulated by Stronger Miami include a change in election year taken to voters and starting in 2028. “If voters say yes, they understand that means truncating the terms,” Russell said.
Former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who has also filed papers to run for the mayor’s seat, has publicly said he would be willing to serve a shorter term if it was the voters’ wish. In a text, former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla said he would be “good with anything the people decide.” Keyword: People.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who has also filed to run for mayor this year, said she, too, would take a year hit.
“Every resident deserves a voice in shaping our future, and that starts with fair elections and transparent leadership,” Higgins said in a statement provided to Political Cortadito. “That’s why I would support reducing the new Mayor’s term by one year and moving the election to 2028 to achieve optimal voter participation.
“As Mayor, I will propose this within my first 30 days in office, to let voters – not politicians – make the decision at the ballot box in 2026. I’m ready to cut through the dysfunction and build a safer, more affordable, and responsive Miami.”
That’s really the only way to do this without disenfranchising voters. Nobody elected Carollo or Pardo or Rosado or King or Gabela to serve a five year term. If they put the change on the ballot, with the change taking place in 2028, voters could be informed that anybody elected in 2025 or 2027 would have truncated terms. That sounds infinitely more fair and appropriate.
So why not do that? Pardo has said that he had to hurry because the appetite to make this change was now, not later. But that’s without even taking it to a public vote, That’s not a good enough reason. Does he just not want to shorten his own term by a year? Because if he were re-elected in 2027, and they went this way instead, his term would end in 2030.
Others say that Pardo wants to run for mayor himself next year.
Either Pardo or Rosado or King — one of the three who voted for this monstrosity — should bring it back for reconsideration and vote against it so that this much more equitable and reasonable model can be taken.
Read related: Miami election change to 2026, term extensions hinge on Christine King
This is not Haiti or Venezuela.
Stronger Miami, the newly-formed coalition of residents and community-based organizations collecting petitions on the change in election, as well as expanding the commission to nine districts and putting fair districting into the city code, issued a statement calling this vote an example of “backroom politics” and political manipulaiton.
“Extending elected officials’ terms without voter approval is not reform—it’s disenfranchisement, plain and simple,” the statement reads.
“We are especially concerned by this decision’s apparent intent to benefit term-limited politicians under the guise of administrative efficiency. Democracy is not an inconvenience. Elections are not optional. The people of Miami deserve a voice in shaping their future—not to be sidelined by those in power.
“This vote underscores the urgent need for Stronger Miami’s proposed charter amendment, which offers a clear, community-led path to genuine reform. We will continue to mobilize, organize, and advocate until every Miamian’s vote—not just those with political connections— is protected and respected.”
 
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