Two more district contests are headed to runoffs in November
It’s not just Miami-Dade District 6 where former President Donald Trump has a friend running. One of the candidates challenging Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen-Higgins is also a Trumpster.
She doesn’t have his endorsement like Kevin Marino Cabrera has, but that’s probably only because Karen Baez Wallis, who resigned as director of Jackson South’s emergency services to run for office, does not think the 2020 presidential election was entirely stolen.
They didn’t have the votes and they knew it. That’s the only reason why the would-be developers of an 800-acre industrial park on farmland beyond the Urban Development Boundary asked for a deferral Thursday, after several hours making their case before the Miami-Dade County Commission.
But it should have — woulda, coulda — died right there on the floor. The only reason it didn’t is because Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins — whose district the project would lie in — couldn’t read the room y se adelantó. If she had let someone make a motion to approve the application — which needed a super majority 9 of 13 votes — it would have failed and died right there. Never to come back again. At least not the same application.
The Miami-Dade Commission election is sneaking up on us — it’s in August, not November, like the state and congressional races — and it’s going to be a pretty important one, with five of the six seats open, thanks to term limits.
Say goodbye to commissioners Jean Monestime, Sally Heyman, Rebeca Sosa, Javier Souto, and Jose “Pepe” Diaz, who is widely rumored to be running for mayor in Sweetwater next. Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, who got her incumbency through an appointment, is going to face her first election but is favored to win, so far.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins, who was appointed to replace Mayor Daniella Levine Cava more than a year ago, submitted 500 signed petitions to qualify for the race in District 8 this year.
If she wants to do it by petition, she will have to collect another 971 petitions to make 1,471 in total — or 10% of the number of registered voters in D8. And if she wants to stay in office, she’ll have to get elected this time.
If you ask Palmetto Bayers — including Mayor Karyn Cunningham — the controversial 87th Avenue bridge that Miami-Dade wants to build across the C-100 canal at 164th Street is not a done deal. Not by a mile.
There are still a lot of questions and concerns, Cunningham said. Not to mention a looming lawsuit.
