It’s been talked about for months, but Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins is widely expected to make an announcement any day now that she’s going to run for Miami mayor this November. And it’s crazy for a number of reasons.
If this had been before former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell announced that he would run for mayor, it might be welcome news. Miami voters needed a qualified and viable alternative to the possibility of Commissioner Joe Carollo or, God forbid, former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla becoming the mayor. But now they have one. And if Higgins and Russell both run, they’re going to divide the non-Hispanic, Democrat and coastal community votes, where both are strong.
Handing the victory over to one of the aforementioned crooks.
But many people are shaking their heads anyway. La Gringa? Mayor of Miami?
Read related: Recycling in Miami: Frank Carollo and Ken Russell on the November ballot
Observers say she has no chance. Miami hasn’t elected a non-Hispanic to mayor in decades. The last one was Stephen P. Clark in 1993. Russell’s chances are also slim. They’re higher because of his institutional knowledge and involvement in Miami issues. But he’s still going to be an underdog. Higgins would be a a flea on the underdog.
They can’t campaign against each other. Higgins and Russell align on possibly every issue — affordable housing, transit, environmental concerns, good government. They’re just going to draw from the same pool and split the vote.
And La Gringa, a nickname given to her during her first Miami-Dade run and which she has come to embrace, would leave a crucial hole on the county commission if she were to resign to run for mayor of Miami. She’s a senior on the county dais, very strong, with almost four years left in her term and a good position to run for county mayor in 2028 (or 2026 if Daniella Levine Cava leaves to run for something else).
That hole Higgins would leave would likely be filled by a Republican Hispanic. Think former Miami Commissioner Joe Sanchez, or maybe one of the DLP brothers wants to try for the same seat again (she has beaten both ADLP and his brother Renier Diaz de la Portilla). The commission is currently 7-6 with a Dem majority. A change would definitely change dynamics. We can see the county becoming more MAGA before our very eyes, especially with Tuesday’s vote to end adding fluoride to our drinking water (more on that later).
Higgins has certain influence on the commission as the senior member. She is the longtime chair of the transportation committee and is now vice chair of the infrastructure, innovation and technology committee. She is also Levine Cava’s biggest ally. And a friend to labor, environmental groups and progressives.
These same groups balked when Higgins considered a congressional run in 2022 — which would have also pit her against Russell in the Democratic primary — only to withdraw six days later. They do not like what they hear now.
“I really wish she wouldn’t do that,” said Jeffrey Mitchell, president of the local AFL-CIO and a national transit union leader. “Not because she wouldn’t make a good mayor of Miami, but because she just won her election and we need her on the county commission.
“That would leave a gap and who would fill it? Nobody good,” Mitchell said.
Read related: Surprise Eileen Higgins ‘withdrawal’ in CD27 raises questions, causes confusion
So why on Earth would Higgins consider this? Or is she being pushed by someone like, say, her campaign consultant Christian Ulvert, who doesn’t have a lot of work this year and needs something to do. Plus, he could also run another one of his candidates for the county commission seat, like former Pinecrest Councilwoman Anna Hochkammer, who recently moved into the district with her boyfriend, former Congressman Joe Garcia. Does Hochkammer — executive director of Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition, a political committee focused on reproductive rights — meet the residency requirement?
If Higgins announces a run, she can raise money for her political action committee– she can raise tons because she is an elected and people depend on her vote — then when September comes, and the deadline for to resign to run, she could drop out and take the funds raised into a future mayoral race in Miami-Dade, which sounds more possible. Is that the end game here?
Higgins did not return a call or text to her phone. Ulvert hasn’t returned any either. They must know that we know what they’re about to announce.
Neither Carollo nor Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who is reportedly already campaigning and asking for money, have filed any paperwork on their effort to run for mayor, according to the city’s website. Russell has. So have perennial candidates Max Martinez, Michael Hepburn and June Savage. Someone named Ijamyn Joseph Gray. Still in the wings is former City Manager Emilio Gonzalez and longtime Brickell Homeowner Association President Ernesto Cuesta, who admits to having been encouraged by several business leaders. Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado has also been mentioned in favorability polls.
There is still time for someone else to show up. Qualifying isn’t until September.
If you like this story and want to see more independent, grassroots, journalistic coverage of the city of Miami, please consider making a donation to Political Cortadito here. And thank you for your support!
The post Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins could join Miami Mayor’s race appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

The city of Miami has sued a mayoral candidate for $3,400 in court costs after she was disqualified from the race on the grounds that she didn’t meet the residency requirements.

In case anyone was wondering, Mayra Joli — a one-time Coral Gables commission candidate who campaigned in the Miami mayoral race last month, even though she was disqualified by a judge — would have come in third.

Read Full Story

We’ve been robbed. Cheated!

The four biggest cities in Miami-Dade have elections next month without a single mayoral race. Not really anyway. The four frontrunners have zero or marginal opposition. That means there will be no debates, no conversation about the direction of these cities, no real choice for the voters of Miami, Miami Beach, Hialeah and Homestead.

Also the commission or council races and the charter questions on the ballots in those cities will suffer from the lack of any real mayoral contest, which is always the main attraction.

In Miami, Commissioner Francis Suarez is the presumed winner after Commissioner Frank Carollo, who is termed out this year, failed to throw his hat in the ring. Everyone held their breath til the last minute on the qualifying deadine because Carollo was supposed to challenge Baby X. But many political observers speculate that his brother, former mayor Crazy Joe Carollo, le tiro la jarrita de agua fria by jumping into the commission race in Group 3 (more on that later), because it would be harder to get two Carollos on the dais and even if he did, then what? Yeah, sure, there are three others who qualified for the Miami mayoral race but none of them have raised any money or are considered real candidates, so they will go unnamed. Expect Suarez to get 93% of the vote.

In Miami Beach, former State Sen. Dan Gelber gets a free ride thanks to Commissioner Michael Grieco‘s self destruction with the secret PAC that he denied having anything to do with but that is now under investigation by a really selective State Attorney who has seemed to look the other way at far more egregious PAC problems (more on that later). Again, three others qualified, but, again, they will go unnamed because none has raised more than $6,000 (to Gelber’s $500K-plus account) and their names won’t matter after Nov. 7 anyway.

Read related story: Mystery Miami Beach PAC goes down, but new PAC is up

In Hialeah, Mayor Carlos Hernandez is apparently not termed out, as an attorney for former Mayor Julio Martinez had argued in court, trying to boot the admitted loanshark and absentee ballot bully out of the race. Alas, a judge ruled with the city’s warped thinking, which is that a half a term is not to be counted. Getting Hernandez off the ballot was the only way to get him out of City Hall. It was the only chance anyone had. There’s a lady challenging him, but while she’s very brave (her husband is a city employee), she stands zero chance of making a dent in the Hernandez election armor. That means that he can use more money earmarked for needy kids to give his needy staff vacations in Vegas.

And in Homestead, Mayor Jeff Porter — who has brought some stability to the county’s fourth largest city after the last mayor was arrested for corruption — is automatically re-elected de-facto after nobody dared oppose him.

Yawn.

If it hadn’t been for Annette Taddeo‘s win last month over former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz in the Senate 40 race, this would be the most boring local election year ever.

Not that I don’t like Porter or Baby X or even Sen. Gelber (notice I didn’t include Carlitos because Ladra does, indeed, dislike the Hialeah hoodlum). Those three are all fine gentlemen with good track records, it seems, so far anyway. But I miss the process by which ellos se destacan. I want them to lay out their ideas and defend their positions and plans. You should too.

This just handing them over the seat seems like a bad idea.

It’s also a terrible reflection of our community that we didn’t have more qualified people vying for these important posts.

It has to be the biggest host committee in formation list that Ladra has ever seen and far too many people to name them all here.

But among the most notable “young professionals” hosting a fundraiser Thursday night for Commissioner Francis Suarez‘s bid for Miami mayor are Congressman Carlos Curbelo, Coral Gables Commissioners Vince Lago, Mike Mena and Frank Quesada (careful with the Sunshine Law, boys), Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid, Hialeah Councilman Paul Hernandez, Miami Beach Commissioner Micky Steinberg, Aventura Commissioner Denise Landman, Coral Springs Vice Mayor Dan Daley, State Reps. Nick Duran and Jose Felix Diaz, former State Rep. Marcelo Llorente and even Jebby Bush. Yes, the son of our former guv who ran recently for POTUS. Him. Former State Rep. Erik Fresen was on an earlier version of the host committee, before he pleaded guilty earlier this month to “willfully failing to file a tax return” for one of the nine years he skipped. He has since been conspicuously removed from the list.

There’s also a large contingency of Miami-Dade Carlos Gimenez people, starting with the fundraising guru Brian Goldmeier and including his lobbyist son, C.J. Gimenez, and his wife, Tania Cruz, as well as one-time G-man J.C. Flores.

Throw in Democrat operatives like Christian Ulvert and Ben Pollara rubbing elbows with Republican lobbyists like Michael Cantens and onetime House candidate Daniel Diaz Leyva and former House staffers turned campaigners like Javi Correoso and it’s a huge and rather diverse (read: bipartisan) crowd at the event in Wynwood Walls, the hippest place in Miami for young professionals to be.

Read related story: Francis Suarez says definite maybe to Miami mayoral race

“These are the people cutting their teeth to make the city great today and they are the people who will be making the city great tomorrow,” Suarez told Ladra Wednesday. “These are people who often feel ignored, disenfranchised and dismissed.”

Um, did he see the list? I don’t think the sons of mayors and presidential candidates feel disenfranchised too much.

“It’s important to engage these young people,” Francis “The Future” Suarez added. He is 39 years old, which is three years older than his father was when Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez became the first Cuban mayor elected in Miami in 1985. “It’s a generational passing of the baton or turning of the page. The city needs an infusion of youth and enegy and technological know-how. Not every fundraiser has to be a big money event. It is great to incorporate new people.”

The suggested donation for this event is $100, a low ask considering the crowd. But Baby X can afford to low ball. He doesn’t really need the money.

Suarez has raised close to $2.6 million and still has more than $2 million on hand between his campaign account and his political action committee, Miami’s Future. This, despite the fact that he doesn’t really have an opponent. Not yet anyway. Sure, there are three other guys with no name and no money who have filed paperwork that shows they intend to run, but Suarez is not sweating them.

“It’s a minor miracle that I’ve gotten this far without any opposition,” Suarez said. “And it may sound like a cliche but I pray for the best and prepare for the worst. So I’m working very hard, assuming there’s going to be competition.”

The elephant in the room — or not in the room, as it were — is Commissioner Frank Carollo, who is termed out but still hasn’t jumped into the mayoral contest. At least not officially. Political observers think that it becomes less likely with every passing day. But he could surprise everybody. And he is raising money for something. Someone at the Related Companies sent out an email last moth to raise money for Carollo’s re-election campaign until, ooops, a second email made a correction saying it would be for whatever Carollo’s future entails.

In its first month, the brand new PAC that checks were solicited for, United for Good Goverment, raised $107,000, according to the campaign finance report.

Read related story: Beleaguered Francis Suarez drops out of Miami mayoral race

“Frank has to decide what he wants to do,” said Suarez, who abandoned his attempt to run for mayor in 2013 against Mayor Tomas Regalado. after several setbacks by campaign staffers, including two arrests for filling out absentee ballot forms online, a situation that was completely unintentional and that really should have been handled differently by the State Attorney’s Office because nobody was defrauded. “I get along with Frank. We have taken strides not to fall into the same Carollo Suarez dynamic and it’s been positive.”

The other possibility that has been pretty much squashed now is former Miami-Dade School Board Member and county mayoral candidate Raquel Regalado, who is the current Miami mayor’s daughter. While Ladra has been saying for months that she had no interest in running for the city seat, her recent foray into a congressional bid to replace the retiring Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has shut people up — for now anyway.

“If she didn’t have that opportunity, there would be rumors about there still being a possibility,” Suarez acknowledged.

That may free up more “young professionals” who might have been hard-pressed to pick between the two to join host committees.