Christian Cevallos: Immigrant builder runs for Miami mayor to audit City Hall

Christian Cevallos, a home developer and former Miami-Dade County community council member, says he’s running for mayor of Miami because somebody needs to go through the city’s books.
“The first thing I’m going to do, and I want to say it real loud,” he told WPLG Local 10. “is I’m going to audit the past government.”
Cevallos, who was born in Ecuador and grew up working odd jobs after moving to Miami — from pizza joints in Little Havana to construction sites — says he knows what it means to build something from scratch. He studied business at Florida International University and later built his own company, America Promanagement LLC, which he says specializes in construction and real estate projects in Kendall.
Well, now it also dabbles in political consulting — as he’s paid himself $5,500 from his campaign account.
He also served two terms on Miami-Dade’s Community Council for District 11, which makes zoning recommendations to the county commission and sounds like a possible conflict of interest, seeing as how he’s in the construction business. But he said it showed him decisions made in ivory towers affect everyday residents — especially families, seniors, and people with special needs.
Read related: Laura Anderson is a rare species: A socialist running for Miami mayor
Cevallos used to live in West Kendall but has lived in the Brickell area since September of 2024 and says his campaign is about fairness and focus. And as he’s bern knocking on doors, he’s learned what voters care about, he said.
“They don’t want to know anything about politics because Miami has had such a bad reputation with politicians that they’re tired,” Cevallos said in his interview with WPLG Local 10. They want opportunities and transparency, he added. He wants to post all the city’s expenses online for everyone to see.
He said he wants to work with small developers, not the big corporations to build real affordable housing, cut the permit process for businesses to 90 days, and do more to keep some of the 28 million visitors who fly through Miami International Airport in the Magic City, instead of being a stop station to Orlando or Miami Beach. “Sometimes we have good parties, but we need to have more activities for people, for families.”
But his biggest talking point might be about taxes. He wants to cut property taxes completely for seniors and says it’s possible to lower overall property taxes by 25%. Where would he find the money: Salaries. He says there are a lot of overpaid city staffers.
Cevallos also is unafraid to call out the city’s neglect of its own communities. “Recently I was walking through Overtown and Little Haiti and some of these neighborhoods that need a lot of help.”
Cevallos’s campaign isn’t flashy — he doesn’t have the deep pockets or the name recognition of the political lifers in the race — but he’s betting that voters are ready for a builder who wants to clean up instead of cash in.
Still, Ladra can’t help but raise an eyebrow. Auditing City Hall sounds nice, but it’s also one of those promises that sound better on paper than in practice. Cutting taxes by a quarter while improving city services? That seems impossible.
But Cevallos insists he’s different — not one of those “big developers” he blames for Miami’s affordability mess. Whether voters buy that distinction will depend on how well he sells it between now and November 4.
Because in Miami politics, transparency is everyone’s favorite word — right up until the lights come on.

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