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last month for the extension of temporary protective status for 350,000 Venezuelans in the U.S. whose TPS had been rescinded by President Trump.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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Environmental entrepreneur Richard Lamondin Jr. — a Miami native and self-made water conservation businessman — announced Wednesday that he is “considering” a run next year against Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar in Florida District 27 after much “encouragement.” This may seem early, but the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently just put Salazar on its national list of vulnerable GOP-held “Districts in Play” targets in 2026.
What makes Lamondin think he can do any better than former State Sen. Annette Taddeo, who lost to Salazar in 2022 (57% to 43%), or former Miami-Dade School Board Member Lucia Baez-Geller, who just lost against Salazar by 20 points in the Trump Train November election? Answer: Democratic political consultant extraordinaire Christian Ulvert, who will likely be Lamondin’s campaign manager.
Ulvert authored an optimistic memo this week that highlights recent victories by Democrats across the state and country, results that he says indicate there are opportunities for the Democratic Party.
“April 1st was no April Fool’s Day as election results across the nation showed voters from all parties reject extremism and embrace pragmatic, balanced leadership,” Ulvert wrote.
From a Chicago suburb council turning Democratic majority to the historic victory of Susan Crawford against Elon Musk‘s money in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race to the two special elections in Florida’ 1st and 6th Congressional District , which were both lost to Republicans but marked significant gains in Republican strongholds, Ulvert and other Democrats suggest these results show that flipping the House in 2026 is within reach.
One prominent example was how Gay Valimont, who lost the race for Floridas 1st Congressional District to Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis (57 to 42, won by three points in Escambia county, which went to Donald Trump by 19 points in November. That’s a 16-point gain. And Trump endorsed Patronis.
“Democrats must seize this moment by recruiting and supporting young, pragmatic candidates who are not afraid to speak up and speak out,” Ulvert said.
And Lamondin, who has been hitting Salazar on the platform formerly known as twitter since late March, might be the perfect example of that.
Read related: Cuban American congress members stay silent on TPS, immigrant detention
The 36-year-old 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. He started in 2012 with a company called CondoSavers that aimed to reduce the water costs for condominium owners. Basically, they installed efficient toilets.
This evolved into ecofi after he and his brother Lawrence realized that “the high cost of utilities, particularly water & sewer, presented an opportunity to do great things for the environment while benefiting businesses and residents,” Richard Lamondin said in a Medium interview published last summer. “We slimmed down our services. We focused on water conservation…
“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,” Richard Lamondin said.
These are good campaign points. It also seems to be a possible source of campaign funding.
Richard Lamondin in a Miami Community News podcast posted on YouTube four years ago.
Another good campaign point is his Italian immigrant wife, Martina Spolini, who 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. One of its principal aims is to preserve current affordable housing. The couple have a 3-year-old son.
All of this is campaign gold.
A graduate of the University of Southern California with a degree 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.
He sounds like a Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava appointment.
“As a proud native Miamian and firm believer in the power of our democracy, the promise of the American Dream, and the duty we have to protect one another, I’m grateful for the encouragement to run for Congress,” Lamondin said in a statement. “Our communities are calling for action, not empty political slogans.
“It’s time to focus on making life more affordable, protecting our neighbors, and giving small businesses and working families a real chance to rise. My success didn’t happen overnight. Like many of my neighbors, I have struggled with medical debt and the rising costs of insurance, housing, and childcare,” Lamondin said. “It doesn’t have to be this way.
“In the coming weeks, I’ll be having serious conversations about the issues that truly matter, and how I can use my decade of entrepreneurial experience and community work to better support the people of South Florida. It’s time for new leaders who show up, work hard, stand up for what’s right, and find common ground.”

Salazar has recently come under fire for misrepresenting herself — again — when she took credit and thanked the Trump administration for reversing the suspension of temporary protected status for Venezuelans, who were on the verge of being deported before a federal judge, not the White House, stopped it. The Trump administration has actually appealed.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar takes credit for judge extending TPS for Venezuelans
The congresswoman, a former journalist who once fawned over Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, has a habit of misrepresenting herself. Last year, she took credit for local federal appropriations — even though she had voted against it in Washington.
The daughter of Cuban political exiles, as she likes to remind everyone all the time, and champion of democracy in Latin America has been basically complicit in the Trump administration’s mass deportation of immigrants, wether they are criminals or not. She is one of four Cuban-American Republicans targeted in a billboard campaign funded by the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus and called a “traitor” for her complicity.
And, yet, she will be difficult to beat. Especially by a nobody Johnny Come Lately.
Ulvert doesn’t think so.
“Voters want to see Democrats lead with a bold economic agenda that puts families first, protects every aspect of the American Dream, and advances a foreign policy agenda that truly puts America First by leading with mutual respect, which has been done since our nation was founded nearly 250 years ago,” Ulvert wrote in his memo. “In Miami-Dade, Congressional districts like CD-27 can very much be in play and lead to a competitive environment given that the incumbent congresswoman has carried the district over the last three cycles by an average margin of 12 points.
“Given the numbers we’ve seen over the last two months… Democrats are over-performing by an average of 18 points.”
He says there is just one thing missing: Money.
“Now, it’s up to the national and state parties, along with the party committees to invest swiftly to create the environment Democrats need to win in November,” Ulvert wrote in what sounds like a pitch for his firm to get some Democratic Party money.
“Let’s not wait until the 11th hour to fumble the ball.”
The post Maria Elvira Salazar may already have a 2026 opponent in Richard Lamondin appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Two Democrats who want to face Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar in District 27 this November will be at a forum on Thursday sponsored by the Democrats of South Dade Club.

The August 27 primary will pit former Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey, an employment attorney, against Miami-Dade School Board Member Lucia Baez Geller, a former high school English teacher.

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Remember debates? How great they were? Wouldn’t it be great to see some this election cycle?

Sen. Annette Taddeo, who is running as the Democratic nominee for Floridas 27th Congressional District, has challenged the incumbent, U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, to four debates — two in English and two en Español. This is the best way for voters to see the differences between them.

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Plot twist!

In her first video ad for the campaign in Congressional District 27, Democrat State Sen. Annette Taddeo has flipped the script and is calling U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar the socialist.

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The last time the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations met with its members and residents was in March of 2020. Ladra remembers it well, because she was the guest speaker. It was so much fun.

COVID-19 was already coming, but nobody knew that would be the last meeting for more than two years as the pandemic shut down society and changed us forever.

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