Joe Carollo and his PAC are back to same old tricks 
It is so predictable that the special election for Miami Commission seat in District 4 would have someone calling one of the candidates a communist.
But it still hits strange that it would happen to Jose Regalado, the youngest son of former Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, who arrived in the U.S. in 1962 as a Pedro Pan kid, shipped to the country by his parents in a massive Catholic Church operation to save children from the communist regime taking hold on the island. The mayor’s father, the candidate’s grandfather, spent 22 years as a political prisoner. His brother Tommy worked for TV Martí.
But those details are lost in this classic Joe Carollo tactic, which the Miami Commissioner — who is pushing hard to get Ralph Rosado elected, instead — has used in many, if not all, his campaigns. Carollo, whose political action committee is dropping daily mailers to D4 voters on Rosado’s behalf, doesn’t need proof. Communist is just a word he throws out. Like chavista.
“José Regalado doesn’t care about the pain of our people,” one mailer says in Spanish. “He tells you one thing upfront and does something else behind your back.” It’s intentionally vague, based on pure emotion, trying to irritate Cuban voters with a tired photo Carollo has used time and time again of Academy Award winning actor and known socialist apologist Sean Penn at a Miami Heat game in 2011. They just happened to run into each other. Ladra thinks it was during the Miami Film Festival.
Read related: Manolo Reyes’ widow comes out strong for Jose Regalado in D4 special election
At least this time, Carollo is using it against the right brother. In 2017, he used the same photo in a mail piece against Tomas N. “Tommy” Regalado when they both ran for commission.
But wait, there’s more.

Not only is Regalado a commie, like the rest of his family — but other mailers say the Regalados are laundering drug money for chavistas tied to the Venezuelan government (another recycled attack) and that the 40-year-old candidate is also a “rumbero,” which is cuban slang for partygoer or club aficionado. And how dare he enjoy our nightlife?
Regalado and Rosado are running in the special election June 3 to replace Manolo Reyes, who passed away last month. And Carollo is reportedly pouring at least half a million dollars from his PAC, Miami First, into the race. He is that desperate to get Rosado elected and get a third vote on the commission to move his agenda forward and block any attempts at true reforms like the lifetime term limits that Commissioner Damian Pardo is pushing (more on that later).
If it seems like life or death for him, it is because it is. This race could really either breathe life into Carollo’s power  (and abuse) for whatever time he has left on the dais — which could be longer than we think if the election date is changed (more on that later) — or kill it for good. So Carollo is throwing everything at Regalado to see what sticks. That is also a classic Carollo tactic.
Ladra predicts that nothing will stick. Because D4 is Regalado Country. These people know the Regalados — which also include Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado — are not cartel-cozying communist chavistas. That’s not even a stretch. That’s a giant heap de lo que pica el pollo. El Pollo Carollo, in this case.

Not such a stretch: A mailer sent earlier this month that paints Rosado as Carollo’s puppet and quotes a Political Cortadito exclusive in which the candidate outright lies to Ladra about the commissioner being at a city park with him to direct a video campaign ad.  “Who will control Ralph Rosado on the Miami Commission,” the mailer asks in the headline. “Joe Carollo, who has cost the city of Miami taxpayers well over $15 million in legal fees for his defense and settlements due to his rampant abuse of power is openly funding and supporting Ralph Rosado’s campaign.
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
“Ralph Rosado was caught lying about his close relationship to Joe Carollo,” it says on the other side, quoting the story in Political Cortadito from earlier this month: “Rosado… denied that Carollo had been at the park with him. ‘No. He was not directing. He wasn’t there,’ Rosado told Political Cortadito. When Ladra told him she had video of Carollo and his wife at the park with him and his mother-in-law, and asked if he wanted to change or stick to his answer, Rosado hesitated a little. Then he said, ‘I’ll get back to you.’”
He never did, by the way.
“Tell Ralph Rosado one Joe Carollo on the City of Miami Commission is enough,” it ends.
Actually, one Joe Carollo on the City of Miami Commission is one too many.
That mailer was paid for by Proven Leadership for Miami, a PAC chaired by Miami River Commission Chairman Horacio Aguirre and used for the senior Regalado in his campaign for county property appraiser last year. So was the one sent this week that calls Rosado “a proven tax and spend bureaucrat” with a “documented history of incompetence and raising taxes.”

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And could his daughter-in-law run to succeed him?
The rumors are rampant. Will Congressman Carlos Gimenez run for city of Miami mayor?
While he is enjoying el protagonismo of the national limelight, with regular spots on cable news networks to bash Joe Biden and China or to gush over Elon Musk, Gimenez hasn’t been tapped by President Donald Trump for any ambassadorship or cabinet position. There was an expectation he would be. Some political observers said, months ago, that Gimenez pretty much had “carte blanche to choose” where he wanted to go. But he hasn’t gone anywhere. The DOGE task force doesn’t count. It was an afterthought.
Meanwhile, Marco Rubio gets not one, but two titles! Not just Secretary of State but national security advisor, too. Does he get both salaries (all tied up in one check, of course)?
And this, after Gimenez has stood solidly by Trump the entire time — still does — and has been rightfully blasted for being un lambón. Most recently, Gimenez has been among the targets of a billboard campaign that calls him out for abandoning his immigrant-rich community and acting as un servil to a dictator.
Read related: Video blasts U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez for silence on ending TPS, deportations
Could what might be seen as a snub have changed the congressman’s appetite for Washington?

Miami is so much closer to home and his wife and his kids and his grandkids. And it’s where he started his political career as a firefighter and later as city manager. Some people, including several close to him, say Gimenez — whose name has been included in a number of polls — wouldn’t mind coming full circle, especially if he can be cast as the one who saves Miami from the fiery depths of hell.
He would certainly become an instant frontrunner among the field of current candidates, which includes Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell and former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, all of whom have opened campaign candidates and filed candidate oaths. Commissioner Joe Carollo and former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla are campaigning, but have not yet filed any official paperwork. The deadline to qualify is in September.
People close to his family have said that Gimenez is, indeed, considering it and will make up his mind by June.
But, then again, there’s the certainty and longevity he enjoys now. Gimenez is a sure thing in his congressional district. He can rule there for life if he wants to. A Miami election would be a risk, even if a small one, and come with term limits. Of course, at the age of 70, term limits seem relative.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins could join Miami Mayor’s race
There’s so much speculation about this, however, that the rumor mill has stretched into the musings of who might replace him. Some say that State Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez is ready to step in. She seems the heir apparent. People know her. She served a term in the Florida House before becoming a senator in 2020 and she was a Doral council member before that. Her District 40 encompasses much of Gimenez’s District 28 (formerly the 26th). She’s practically a shoe in — and this is just a rumor.
Other possible hopefuls are State Rep. Juan Carlos Porras or Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, who is fresh off his far-right fluoride fight victory, getting his colleagues to override the county mayor’s veto of the removal of fluoride from the water, which is something he championed before the Florida Legislature passed its own statewide ban. But this is totally out of his league.
Both Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez and campaign operative Tania Cruz Gimenez like to wear their sunglasses on their heads.
Another name whispered about — mostly in horror — is Tania Cruz-Gimenez, the super smart, former Democrat attorney turned Republican campaign consultant who just happens to be the daughter-in-law of the current congressman. Cruz-Gimenez, who lost a Coral Gables commission race in 2021, helped Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz win the historic constitutional election last November with 56% of the vote, but lost last month with Claudia Miro, a Gables commission candidate that lost along with her in 2021 (Cruz Gimenez did better than Miro with 14% to 8% in a crowded field ultimately won by Gables Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson).
She is now working with Denise Galvez Turros, a marketing professional and co-founder of Latinas for Trump, who is running for Miami Commission in District 3. Galvez Turros lost a bid for city commission in District 4 in 2017.
Read related: Denise Galvez Turros announces she’ll run for Miami Commission in District 3
In 2017, Cruz-Gimenez also helped Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo defend himself against a residency challenge from Alfie Leon, who lost the race by 252 votes, and essentially keep the seat he has since used repeatedly to abuse his office since. In 2020, she mounted a recall against Carollo, in part out of a guilty conscience, but that failed after the city contested it in court, saying they were filed hours late.
Cruz-Gimenez responded to Ladra in a text asking if I was crazy, with one of my favorite expletives thrown in. “Is that rumor really circling,” she asked, via text. Subsequent efforts to reach her about it have been unsuccessful.
So, that’s not a no.
And people think a potential run is why she so dramatically swore allegiance to the Republican Party with House Speaker Mike Johnson at a fundraiser in late February, where someone just happened to have a bible. Everyone laughed when she renounced the Democratic Party and swore “full support to the America First agenda and the seven core principles of conservatism.”
Those were listed out loud: “Individual liberty, limited government, rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets and human dignity.”
Really? Because at least six of the seven seem to be dismissed by our current POTUS. Maybe an argument could be made that he’s ignored all seven.
There were photos and video taken that could very easily find themselves on a mailer to voters or in TV ads. Giddily enjoying the performative moment next to her are the congressman, his wife and his namesake son, Carlos “CJ” Gimenez, who is married to Cruz-Gimenez and just does not make as good a candidate.
You don’t have to swear allegiance to anything or anyone when you switch parties from Democrat to Republican, or vice versa, as has been trending lately. The only reason to do go through such theatrics would be to raise your profile, and, perhaps, bank some campaign material.
But it would still be a tough primary against Rodriguez, even with an endorsement from the congressman. Or mayor of Miami.
The post Will he or won’t he? Congressman Carlos Gimenez for Miami mayor? appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Former Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey, who lost the Democratic primary last year for a chance to challenge Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, wants to give it another go. He announced Tuesday that he would run again in 2026.
“I’ve spent over 12 years as a public servant and mayor working to improve the quality of life for the people I was elected to serve — putting politics aside, focusing on solutions, and delivering results,” Davey, 58, said in a statement. “That kind of approach is sorely needed in Washington these days.
“I’m running for Congress because we deserve a representative who will fight for us, listen to us, and always put people first.”
Read related: Cuban American congress members stay silent on TPS, immigrant detention
And likely because there’s momentum. Salazar is ripe for the taking. She has come under fire for her hypocritical statements and lack of integrity and action on the mass detentions and deportations that are scarring our community and have led to at least three deaths in immigration custody (more on that later). Her face graces billboards and digital ads calling her una lambona and a traitor to our community. She wrongfully took credit last month for the extension of temporary protective status for 350,000 Venezuelans in the U.S. whose TPS had been rescinded by President Trump. She didn’t do anything. It was a federal judge in San Francisco who reversed the Trump administration’s deportation orders for the TPS holders.
Plus, she won on a Trump pendulum sweep that won’t exist in 2026 and is already swinging the other way, as shown with special elections in the 1st and 6th Congressional Districts, which were both lost to Republicans but marked significant gains in GOP strongholds, according to Democrat operatives who hope these results show that they can flip the House in 2026.
It’s enough to make any would-be hopeful itch. Ladra is surprised that Luisa Baez-Geller, the former Miami-Dade School Board member who beat Davey in the primary last August (with 54% of the vote) but lost to Salazar in November (with less than 40% of the vote), hasn’t scratched yet.
But there is already another Democrat candidate. Richard Lamondin, 37, a Miami-native and environmental entrepreneur, who announced more than a month ago and filed paperwork last week. He is co-founder and CEO of ecofi, environmental services company dedicated to demonstrating that sustainability is beneficial for business, which he and his brother built from the ground up. The company boasts saving over 10 billion gallons of freshwater and preventing more than 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions while saving property owners $100 million in utility costs.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar may already have a 2026 opponent in Richard Lamondin
“Today, we have grown to be much more than just an energy and water conservation company. We are now the sustainability team for the real estate industry, supporting them in whatever they need on their journey,” Lamondin said in a Medium interview published last summer.
But his degree from the University of California is in International relations.
Lamondin has been recognized as Endeavor Miami’s Entrepreneur of the Year and named one of South Florida Business Journal’s 40 Under 40. He serves on multiple nonprofit boards focused on community development and youth empowerment, including Project Transforming Hope, Engage Miami, and the ADAPT Foundation. His wife, Martina Spolini, is executive director of Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade, a non-profit that helps low-income, vulnerable homeowners, small business owners, and community organizations by providing critical home repair and accessibility modifications at no cost to preserve current affordable housing.
Davey was a Republican who ran for the Florida House as a GOP candidate in 2016 before switching parties in 2019, due to The Donald Effect. According to his website, his priorities many of the same issues he embraced last year — defending women’s reproductive rights, voters’ rights, working families, unions, equality, social security and Medicare and the environment while advocating for increased teacher pay, reduced lobbyist influence and fix the broken immigration system.
In his statement, he indicated that the recent extremism is also going to play a role in his campaign.
“Like many of you, I have watched as Washington has become increasingly paralyzed by a broken political system. A system where too many politicians, like my opponent, Maria Elvira Salazar, are more concerned with scoring cheap political points or serving special interests than delivering for the people they represent,” Davey said. 
“Washington isn’t working for the American people because too many politicians are putting their extreme partisanship and big corporate donors ahead of the people they’re supposed to represent. Maria Elvira Salazar is part of the problem,” he said. “She puts her extreme partisanship and her desire to serve Donald Trump ahead of the best interests of this district. Salazar is so controlled that she claims credit for funding she voted against and cannot even remember what she voted for or against.”
Ouch. That refers to an interview by Jim DeFede of CBS4 News where Salazar, now 63, was confronted about taking credit for millions in funding when she actually voted against two federal bills during the Joe Biden administration, including the bipartisan critical infrastructure bill that funded $2.5 million to expand healthcare for seniors and families, $8 million for flooding mitigation along the Miami River and in Little Havana and $3.75 million for police initiatives, among other projects.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar sends campaign mailers from congressional office
Davey is also going to hit on the “reckless tariffs” and disastrous immigration sweeps that have resulted in the deportation of legal U.S. residents and at least seven detainee deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. He says it is personal for him, because his has-Peruvian daughter — his wife fled the country’s violent Shining Path terrorist attacks — asked why the president thought less of her.
“I am running for her, and for your children, so that they no longer have to fear their president,” Davey says.
“Under the Trump Administration and with Congresswoman Salazar’s help, we are witnessing a full-blown assault on the very values that define us as a nation. Families are torn apart by heartless deportations and law-abiding residents are swept up in a brutal and unjust system. These aren’t mere statistics; these are our neighbors and our friends,” Davey’s statement reads. “The Trump Administration is dangerously out of control and blatantly attempting to whitewash America. Skin color is not a reason to deport people. Every person in this country is entitled to due process. Simply put, we are watching history repeat itself.
“And who can forget the devastating impact of those utterly reckless tariffs? Tariffs that don’t punish foreign countries but instead punish American workers, farmers, and small businesses. Tariffs that choke the life out of our economy, cost us countless jobs, and make it even harder for working-class families to put food on the table. It’s economic sabotage, plain and simple.
“My opponent, Maria Elvira Salazar, has stood by and enabled this destructive agenda. She is nothing less than Donald Trump’s partner in this historic destruction of our nation,” Davey says. “She’s part of a Washington that’s out of touch, a Washington that puts partisanship over people, a Washington that has failed the very people it’s supposed to serve.
“I’m running for Congress because I believe we can do better. I believe that we deserve a representative who will fight for us, who will listen to us, and who will put our interests first. I will work hard for the people of this district.
“I believe in an America where everyone has access to quality, affordable healthcare. I believe in an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few. I believe in a nation that welcomes immigrants, that treats everyone with dignity and respect, and that lives up to its promise as a beacon of hope and opportunity.”
The post Democrat Mike Davey aims to try again for congressional seat in District 27 appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Months before the Miami Downtown Development Authority approved a controversial $100,000 gift to the UFC, an organization worth around $12 billion, the agency — funded through a special taxing district of downtown, Brickell and Edgewater property owners — gave more than four times as much to one of the wealthiest sports franchises in the world.
Last December, the DDA voted to give $450,000 — or $150,000 a year for three consecutive years — to FC Barcelona, a global brand that is valued at $5.6 billion, according to Forbes, to support moving their U.S. office from New York to Miami.
But they’re not done. On Tuesday, the DDA’s Economic Development Committee will consider giving $175,000 to the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship host committee. That makes a total of $725,000 in gifts to sports entities in just the last five months.
Read related: Effort to dissolve Miami DDA cites ‘bloated’ salaries, redundancy, UFC gift
Proponents will say that the these funds are incentives to bring these events here. That the economic impact they are a huge return on investment and that Miami’s image continues to be broadcast to the world as an iconic location for events. The UFC Village on Flager, for instance, drew thousands of people downtown that might not otherwise have gone there. And so what that one of the events organized was at a downtown spot owned by one of the board members? It’s just a coincidence.
The college national championship is expected to have at least a $275 million impact on the community. But it is sponsored already by huge billion dollar corporations like Nike, Amazon, Royal Caribbean and AT&T. Why does it need $175K that can be better spent elsewhere?
Plus, it will already be here. It was announced last month that the title game would be played at the Hard Rock Stadium.
“They’re already coming here. They already have the hotels booked,” said James Torres, the president of the Downtown Neighbors Association, who has been pressing to adjust or eliminate the DDA for month, citing bloated salaries and these “incentive” grants that he says are bogus.
“We are not the Greater Miami Visitors and Convention Bureau,” Torres told Political Cortadito. He calls it “another slap in the face.”
He said the money should be spent on the real issues that face downtown daily — the garbage on the street, the homelessness, the street lights that need repair. “They are supposed to combat blight,” he said of the DDA.
Torres, who ran unsuccessfully or commission in district 2, has asked to be given more than three minutes at the next commission meeting so he can make his presentation for removing homeowners from the taxing district to make the DDA more like a business improvement district — currently, residential property owners pay 58% of the annual $13.5 million budget — or eliminating it altogether. He has proposed putting a question on the ballot in November to let voters decide if it should be changed or dissolved.
A line of homeless individual forms under the expressway for the distribution of aid or services.
“Downtown Miami families are being crushed by rising crime, a worsening condo crisis, homelessness, and double taxation,” Torres wrote in a letter to Mayor Francis Suarez earlier this month, before he even learned about the college championship check the DDA might be writing this week.
“This is not economic development. It is exploitation — not by the brands themselves, but by the DDA, which continues to operate as a taxpayer-funded slush fund, ignoring the needs of the people it taxes,” Torres wrote. “FC Barcelona is not a struggling local business or a neighborhood nonprofit organization. It is a multi-billion-dollar entertainment empire. And yet, while residents walk past graffiti-covered sidewalks, homeless encampments, and shuttered storefronts, City officials have joined the DDA in celebrating this latest handout — as if it were some major community victory. It is not.
“Mayor Suarez, you do not pay into the DDA taxing district, yet you’ve aligned yourself with the PR fanfare while remaining silent as Downtown residents plead for fairness. To your credit, you have worked hard to elevate Miami’s global profile — Ultra, Formula One, international marathons, and much more. That work has helped position our city as a world-class destination,” he continued.
“But here is the truth: Miami doesn’t need to buy prestige. Global brands want to be here.
Read related: Miami DDA gives UFC $100K for event, despite protest from downtowners
“We should not be paying them to show up — especially not with money taken from residents who are already stretched thin in the very neighborhoods being exploited,” he added.
Torres told Political Cortadito that the burden adds to an already crushing condo crisis. His own building has had a $21 million assessment. His piece of that is about $12,000, he says. The DDA already takes about $1,200 of his annual tax bill, he said.
Ernesto Cuesta, the longtime president of the Brickell Homeowners Association, has also asked for Brickell to be taken 0ut of the DDA taxing boundaries. He says the DDA stands for “Don’t Do Anything” for Brickell.
Both men were interviewed in a segment last week for CBS4 News — and that was before they learned of the college football championship giveaway that will be considered Tuesday. But it was within days of the announcement that FC Barcelona would be relocating here “with the support” of the DDA and Mayor Suarez attended the celebration.
In his letter, Torres asks Suarez to support putting the DDA’s future on the November ballot. “So the broader community can decide whether this agency still has a place in our city. Every day you remain silent is another day our communities are forced to fund a system they didn’t ask for, cannot afford, and no longer believe in.
“How much longer will you allow Downtown and Brickell residents to be held hostage by a bloated bureaucracy that continues to put image over impact?”
The DDA Economic Development Committee meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. and can be viewed via zoom here.
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In the two weeks after the city of Miami scheduled a special election to fill the commission vacancy caused by the death of Manolo Reyes, the two candidates have raised almost $100,000 combined. And local favorite Jose Regalado — of those Regalados — who quit his job as assistant building director to run for office at the request of Reyes’ widow, out-raised urban planner Ralph Rosado, who was basically fired from his job as city manager of North Bay Village (more on that later), almost three to one.
Regalado reported a total of $67,470 in contributions raised through May 2, while Rosado had a total of $26,454, according to their first campaign finance reports, filed Friday.
The contributions in Regalado’s report are also from a diverse group of sources. Meanwhile, the contributions in Rosado’s report include bundles from four sources that add up more than half of his take for the one month period. He’s got $5,000 each from developer Sergio Rok and the owners of the Green Acres Trailer Park, $3,000 from the owners of Adonel Concrete and $2,000 from real estate investor Robert Sckalor.
Read related: Manolo Reyes’ widow comes out strong for Jose Regalado in D4 special election
They both have quite a few contributions from lobbyists, including South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez, who gave to both candidates, hedging his bets. One interesting gift is a $250 check to Rosado, a rabid Republican, from former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner, an uber Democrat former state rep who ran against Jose Regalado’s sister, Raquel Regalado, for county commission twice and lost both times. That looks like an obvious example of emotional spending.
Ladra hopes she feels better.
Jose Regalado has some bundles, too. He has $5,000 from gasoline mogul Max Alvarez and $3,000 from developer Jorge Salazar. But there are far more actual people giving to his campaign than to Rosado’s. His expenses are also higher, with more than $10,000 spent on radio and $1,500 for professional photos.
Rosado’s expenses include almost $2,500 in yard signs and $914 for text messages.
Both of the candidates also have political action committees spending money on their respective campaigns.
Rosado has the benefit of Commissioner Joe Carollo‘s PAC, Miami First, sending mailers and paying for other messaging on his behalf. It recently sent a mailer that said Jose Regalado wants to bring red light cameras back to Miami. It’s not true. It’s a tired old Carollo campaign smear he used on Tommy Regalado, the elder son of the former mayor, when both ran for commission in 2017. It was Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, who was Miami mayor from 2009 to 2017, who championed red light cameras once upon a time.
Read related: Miami’s District 4 candidate Ralph Rosado is backed, helped by Joe Carollo
By the way, so did Carollo, who was city manager in Doral when the city was installing its own traffic cameras.
Regalado has Proven Leadership for Miami, a PAC chaired by Miami River Commission Chairman Horacio Aguirre for the candidate’s father, Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Tomas Regalado, who was Miami mayor from 2009 to 2017.
Voters won’t get any information on the PAC contributions and expenses until a month after the election. There will be two more campaign finance reports filed with the city clerk’s office before the June 3 special election: one on the 23rd and one on the 30th, four days before the election — and also the day that early voting begins.
The deadline to request a vote-by-mail or absentee ballot is May 22.
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