Former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who has been campaigning for the mayor’s race for months, has filed a challenge to the city commission’s cancellation of the November election — the first of what could be several lawsuits.
City commissioners voted 3-2 last week to change the election date from odd to even years, effectively cancelling this year’s election for mayor and commissioners in districts 3 and 5 and extending everybody’s terms by a year. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier had warned them a day earlier that they could not do that and that there would be consequences. But he has not filed any legal motion to stop the change.
Could he, like some other would-be candidates, be waiting the 10 day period before Mayor Francis Suarez‘s deadline to veto the measure? Because that’s not gonna happen. This is his idea, after all. Sure, the ordinance was sponsored by Commissioner Damian Pardo but that’s only because Baby X convinced him.
Read related: Miami commissioners should shorten their terms for election year change
Both Suarez and Pardo are named in the lawsuit, as are every other commissioner (even though Commissioners Joe Carollo and Miguel Gabela voted against it), City Clerk Todd Hannon and Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia.
“The City of Miami Commissioners unconstitutionally bypassed the democratic will of the people in a way that the Florida Constitution, the Miami-Dade Charter, and the City’s Charter expressly prohibit,” said Alan Lawson, former Florida Supreme Court Justice and lead counsel at Lawson, Huck, Gonzalez PLCC, which is representing Gonzalez. “This repugnant and deliberate act was done without a single electoral vote in defiance of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s clear warning that doing so was illegal. Miami voters are the only ones who can decide to change the election date thus extending the terms of elected officials, which is the immediate concern of our client,” Lawson said in a statement.
“We are stunned by the brazen actions of Miami’s elected officials,” Gonzalez said, though he should probably be the least surprised.
“Canceling a regularly scheduled election and extending their own terms in office is in direct defiance of Florida law. Doing so without the consent of voters is an outrageous abuse of power. Attorney General James Uthmeier has already warned that this violates the law, and Governor Ron DeSantis has strongly supported that position. Disenfranchising voters undermines our democracy and robs citizens of their voice at the ballot box,” he said.
“If they can steal an election, what else can they steal?”
In the complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief, the attorneys for Gonzalez write that the commissioners did “three legally impermissible things” when they passed the ordinance on final reading Thursday.
“First, they cancelled the election scheduled for November 4, 2025, less than five (little  more than four) months away — the stuff of failed regimes around the world,” the complaint states. “Second, they fundamentally changed when the General Municipal Elections — i.e., the  elections for the city of Miami Mayor and its City Commissioners — occur, from being held in odd numbered years, as the City of Miami’s Charter unambiguously mandates, to even years concurrent with midterm and general elections.
“This point bears repeating: Without a referendum — i.e., without a single vote cast by  the people of the City of Miami — the Commissioners have overridden the City of Miami’s Charter (its constitution) to change how and when the City of Miami’s elections take place,” the lawyers wrote. “But it gets worse.
Read related: Miami Commissioners pass election date change — and steal an extra year
“The third, and perhaps most concerning, thing the Commissioners did …  is decide that they and the already-term-limited mayor get to stay in office longer than the voters elected them to be in office.
“The Commissioners unconstitutionally bypassed the democratic will of the people in a way that the Florida Constitution, the Miami-Dade Charter, and the City’s Charter expressly prohibit. Once more, they did so without a single electoral vote,” the lawsuit states.
“Reminiscent of regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, or Cuba — the very places so  many of Miami’s people come from—those in power, while in power, forced upon those voters what  they think is best for elections going forward—and secured for themselves additional time in power,  without a vote of the electorate.
“That cannot stand.”
Meanwhile, Gonzalez has not stopped campaigning.
Emilio Tomas Gonzalez v. City of Miami, Et Al by Political Cortadito on Scribd

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He is not a declared candidate for Miami mayor, and there are some rumblings about him running for the county commission in District 5 instead, but former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla — whose charges on bribery and money laundering were dropped last November — is knocking on doors in his campaign to woo voters.
And he is giving them mameys, which reminds me of a Cuban saying about gumption. Tiene tremendos mameyes.
Pouteria sapota, the mamey sapote, is a species of tree cultivated throughout Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. The fruit, botanically a berry, is about four to 10 inches long and three to 4.5 inches wide and has flesh ranging in color from pink to orange to red. It is colloquially used to describe male genitalia. It can also refer to something “easy peasy” to do. Eso es mamey.
Read related: Alex Diaz de la Portilla’s former staffer says he is harassing her in divorce case
Diaz de la Portilla couldn’t help but send some selfies of himself, his mameyes — the fruit kind — and the senior residents he visited to Ladra over the last few days. There’s no way to know if the smattering of homes he has documentation for each day is all he does before he goes home and pours himself a drink. But at least he’s out there. Even if he is a little handsy.
In three of the photos he sent — and they’re not technically selfies since someone else is taking them — the residents he’s grabby with are wearing red Make American Great Again hats and it seems like too much of a coincidence. Is he giving them away or are they props Diaz de la Portilla takes from door to door for these photo opps?

In one of the others, he is outside with a resident and the man’s little chihuahua, Pelusa, who ADLP said was his preferred candidate for commission in the special election for District 4.
“What a beautiful day to walk,” Diaz de la Portilla texted Sunday. He didn’t walk Monday. He had a fundraiser, though, and divorce court, he said. He did have a case management hearing, according to the county clerk’s records, and his estranged wife, Vanessa Garcia Azzam, had previously asked the judge to force the former to commissioner to attend the hearings, even if by Zoom. So it sounds like he obliged.
Commissioner Joe Carollo, who has also not declared but is also threatening to run for mayor, is out there, too. He was at Smathers Plaza last week celebrating Mother’s Day early. But he’s a sitting commissioner, so isn’t that expected? Yeah, except Smathers is in District 4, not his own District 3.
Still, he didn’t have mameys.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins could join Miami Mayor’s race
There are several other candidates who have filed campaign treasurer reports and candidate oaths, including, most notably, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell and former Miami city manager Emilio Gonzalez.  qualifying doesn’t even start until Sept. 5. So we won’t know until then who is really running and who is just threatening to.
Diaz de la Portilla’s bag, with the one mamey, and his hand-out piece don’t look like they say anything about the mayor’s seat. “With infinite love,” starts the piece, which looks like a Mother’s Day mailer with a photo of ADLP and his mother, Fabiola. And, in it, he hints at the criminal case against him after he was arrested in 2023 on public corruption charges stemming from the giveaway of a public park to the owners of a private school that wanted to use it for their athletic department.
“There is no judge or court as just as mothers when they know their children have been unjustly attacked,” the piece says. “Today and always, in gratitude, I celebrate my mother and all the mothers who give and sacrifice so much to protect their children and who celebrate when they see their children’s names vindicated, not only by God’s divine justice, but also by the systems of just human law. To you, my sincere words of recognition for a labor of love for your children.”
That’s really specific. But not about which race he’s in. That’s vague.
Just like his goody bag which says only “Courtesy of Alex Diaz de la Portilla,” in his signature neon green.
This is, of course, because the items are paid for by his political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade, which reported raising nada in the first quarter this year, but spending close to $108,000, according to campaign finance reports.
Some have speculated that The Dean of Miami politics is waiting to see if Higgins actually resigns to run so he can run in her seat in county district 5, instead, where former Miami Beach and State Rep. David Richardson has already filed.
ADLP texted Ladra to say that he lives in District 3 now.
Wait, isn’t the East Hotel in District 5? And when has residency stopped him, anyway? He lived in his parents’ old house in District 3, the one he later lost to foreclosure, at least part of the time he served as commissioner in District 1.
And does that mean that he’ll jump into the District 3 race at the last minute?
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Meanwhile, partisan politics creep into county office
Have you been arrested and actually gone to prison for mortgage fraud? Have you been caught drinking and driving on the job, or cheating taxpayers by running errands on the public dime? No problem! You can apply for a job at the Miami-Dade Elections Department. They won’t care.
Four months after newly-elected Elections Supervisor Alina Garcia took office in November, she hired a new executive secretary: Jenny Nillo, who was fired from the city of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency after she was caught driving a city car to run private errands for former Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, the CRA chairman at the time, and stopping for cans of beer along the way. How she was not arrested for drinking and driving is a mystery.
But whatever. That’s in the past, Garcia said. So, apparently, is Nillo’s 2017 arrest for mortgage fraud and subsequent conviction and sentence of 36 months.
Garcia did not return calls and texts from Ladra. But she gave a statement to the Herald that said Nillo “has performed her responsibilities with excellence, integrity, and unwavering commitment.”
Surveillance video shots of Jenny Nillo playing hooky from her city of Miami job in 2021.
She really laid it on thick, calling Nillo “a dedicated professional and valued member of our team who has paid her dues to society and has demonstrated through her actions and work ethic that she is an outstanding individual fully committed to public service.
“Ms. Nillo is also a widow who, since the passing of her husband in 2017, has been the sole provider for her family — supporting both her 80-year-old mother and her 19-year-old son,” Garcia said. “Her strength, resilience, and professionalism reflect the values we uphold in our office.”
Really? What about her theft of taxpayer dollars and blatant disregard for the law or even common decency? Does that reflect the values you uphold in your office? Which, by the way, is really our office.
At least now, if Nillo works on a campaign during her work hours — like she did when Renier Diaz de la Portilla ran for county commission — she is still technically working in “elections.”
Read related: Jenny Nillo campaigned for Renier Diaz de la Portilla while on the public job
Nillo is making $45,000 a year, according to Tess Riski, who reported the scoop in The Miami Herald. That’s what she started at when ADLP forced her on the city’s Omni CRA in 2020 as a community liaison. She was making $53,000 when she was fired the next year after Florida Department of Law Enforcement Officers observed her drinking and driving and stopped her so she wouldn’t hurt anybody. But she was only fired from the CRA. Diaz de la Portilla hired her back to his district office, and she worked in the city even after his 2023 arrest in September on charges of bribery and money laundering, which were dropped last year.
Strangely enough, Ladra expected Nillo to be working with the ADLP campaign for Miami mayor. She has worked on all the Diaz de la Portilla campaigns for decades. And when Ladra asked the former commissioner, via text, if she would be joining him at City Hall should he be elected, he said she would. “Are you going to take Jenny with to the mayor’s office with you,” was the question. “Yes. Part of my team,” Diaz de la Portilla said Friday morning.
After reading about her new job, which the Herald reported started March 3, Ladra texted him again on Saturday. “I thought you said Jenny was part of your team.” His answer: “She is.”
That’s concerning because the Miami-Dade Elections Department is the one that is going to tally the votes for the city elections on Nov. 4. There should not be part of anyone’s “team” working there.

But then we have Garcia, a longtime Republican operative who is going to have a very difficult time putting her job before her party. It seems like she is still campaigning from her social media feed, going to events all over the county, mostly with other Republican officials. She was there last week to celebrate the swearing-in of interim Hialeah Mayor Jacqueline Garcia Roves, along with Hialeah’s former mayor and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban “Steve” Bovo and Miami-Dade Commissioner and former state Senator Rene Garcia, who is allegedly running for mayor in the City of Progress, as well as a State Rep. Alex Rizo and a bunch of other electeds.
This is an election year in Hialeah, by the way. How is she going to remain objective? Ladra would be concerned if she was former Council Member Bryan Calvo. Looks like Calvo, who is also running for mayor, was left out of the group shot.
Read related: Meet our new Supervisor of Elections Alina Garcia and her storied past
It’s kinda strange to see Garcia, the head of our county election, hobnobbing with electeds — mostly Republicans — in Tallahassee and at local events. It’s kinda strange to see her celebrating Women’s Month with the Republican Party of Miami Dade County, which had invited special guest, former Alaska Governor and one time VP candidate Sarah Palin. It’s kinda weird to see our elections chief in Washington D.C. at an inauguration ball for a president who still insists, to this day, that he won the 2020 election.
Garcia’s social media feeds look like she is still campaigning – and using election events to do so.
In February, members of the Republican Party of Miami-Dade toured the Doral office, where Chief Executive Officer Christina White discussed voter registration, vote-by-mail ballots, and the procedures involved in managing a county-wide election, while Garcia stood near the back of the room with Kevin J. Cooper, the newly elected Chairman of the Miami-Dade Republican Party, like they were conspiring or something.
Ladra has not seen photos posted of a tour for the Miami-Dade Democratic Party.

This Jenny Nillo hire has to be a favor for somebody, right? Because a fair, competitive process in this economy would have drawn better candidates, for sure. But Nillo is a DLP loyalist lackey, a member of “my team,” as he says. And Garcia is self-proclaimed “Joe Carollo girl.” She worked with the Miami commissioner before she ran for the state senate before she ran for elections chief. Carollo and Diaz de la Portilla are both allegedly running for mayor of Miami against each other in another election this year that Garcia will oversee.
So, this favor of a hire only makes sense if what las malas lenguas say is true about a deal struck by Carollo and Diaz de la Portilla, for the latter to switch to the county commission District 5 race if, indeed, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins runs for mayor, after all.
Read related: Alex Diaz de la Portilla is investigated on ghost city employee at Omni CRA
That’s one hypothesis, anyway.
Meanwhile, Ladra has some questions.
Does this mean Nillo, who worked at the county a long time ago, gets a third public pension?
Will she get to handle ballots in the Miami election?
What’s in the green gift bags that the Republican Party guests got at the tour?
Who is Garcia going to hire next? Perhaps former Florida Sen. Frank Artiles, who she also used to work for?
Artiles is appealing his November conviction and sentence — 60 days in jail and five years probation — in an election conspiracy case after orchestrating the sham candidate that thwarted the 2020 state senate race in District 37, tilting it for Republican Ileana Garcia and against Democrat incumbent Jose Javier Rodriguez.
So, he has election experience.
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The Miami mayoral race this November is getting interesting — and we don’t just mean the announcement this week that former Miami City Commissioner Emilio Gonzalez has formally filed to run, making good on rumors that he’s helped spread since early last year.
Who’s next? Former Miami Mayor and county commissioner Xavier Suarez, father of the actual incumbent Mayor Francis Suarez? Or Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado?
All three of them were on a SurveyMonkey poll texted to Miami voters last week asking them to provide first choice, second choice and third choice options. So were Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins and former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell, who had already filed WHEN. Also on the list: Current Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who was suspended after his 2023 arrest on public corruption charges related to the giveaway of a public park that were later dropped by the Broward State Attorney’s Office, neither of whom have yet filed any paperwork but both of whom have repeatedly and widely threatened to run.
But there were only four runoff scenarios presented in the version of the poll that Ladra saw: Carollo vs. Regalado or Higgins vs. Regalado or Carollo vs. Higgins or Carollo vs. Diaz de la Portilla. Carollo being in three out of four potential second rounds could be an ominous sign.
Or it could be his poll. Nobody has taken responsibility.
Read related: Long list of potential 2025 Miami mayoral candidates starts to take form
Diaz de la Portilla seems to be campaigning. His Instagram has photos of him talking with constituents — like knocking on doors? — and echoing the extreme political line of President Donald Trump and his minions, clearly positioning himself early on as the Trump candidate. Why not? He’s got that same “persecuted by the Democrat machine” thing going.
On Tuesday night, Diaz de la Portilla posted a photo of him and newly-reelected Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago at Lago’s victory party on Miracle Mile.
“Congratulations to my friend Vince Lago on his re-election as Mayor of the City of Coral Gables! Last night, the residents of the City Beautiful won by choosing to reelect a true public servant, who now has a mandate to continue to serve his constituents with a true vision for the future and leadership,” Diaz de la Portilla posted on his Instagram.
ADLP went to Lago’s 2021 party, too.
Carollo is competing for that Trump cheerleader role in the race on his weekday morning radio show (more on that later), where he’s also already attacking Higgins. Ladra can’t wait to hear what he has to say about Gonzalez. But he may have a problem if Commissioner Damian Pardo gets his way Thursday with a proposed referendum that would provide for lifetime term limits. If it passes, Carollo, who has already served two terms as mayor, would be ineligible to run.
Pardo has said that he is not targeting Crazy Joe with the proposed amendment. But it would only apply to Carollo, who was mayor WHEN WHEN, and Suarez, who was mayor from 1985 to 1993 and again from 1997 to 1998 — thought that last term was cut short by absentee ballot fraud so X might say he didn’t really serve two full terms.
Read related: Voters in Miami may get to strengthen term limits and ban political retreads
Russell was on NBC6’s Impact with Jackie Nespral last weekend and said he supported Pardo’s proposed referendum.
“We keep seeing the same people coming back and getting reelected. Half the people I served with there have mugshots. But they continue to get re-elected, and family members and its a lot of these names that we know,” Russell said. “I’m not attacking them personally. I want a system that attracts new blood for the future of Miami to have the potential it has.
“Once the system of government changes, it’s going to attract better talent to run for office.”
Russell, who said he had already raised more than $100,000, said he has really enjoyed his time off since leaving office in 2023 (he resigned to run for Congress) and did not intend to return to government. “I’m telling you, it sucks you back in,” he told Nespral. “There is so much going wrong with the city of Miami. As great as the city is, it’s governance is horrible.
“It’s embarrassing. We all see it on the news every day. The pay to play is alive and well. The corruption in terms of lawsuits. Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent defending the unethical behavior of commissioners,” said Russell, who is an avid TikToker.
He has said that as mayor, he would actually show up to commission meetings and serve as chair of the commission. He would also advance a change to expand the commission from five to at least seven members and work to reverse or mitigate the commission vote made in February at the behest of Mayor Francis Suarez to let the developers of the Miami Freedom Park real estate complex and soccer stadium off the hook for funding $10 million in public parks throughout the city.
Read related: Miami Freedom Park gets its full $20 million back for 58-acre public park
“Over 100 acres of new parks that were to be funded in the city are now being undone… If I’m in office, this is a very easy fix. These parks can be funded by the folks that need to pay for them. They can and they will,” said Russell, who filed bar complaints against Suarez and former City Attorney Victoria “Vicky” Mendez after the vote to give the developers back the $10 mil. They were dismissed immediately.
Gonzalez, a former director for U.S. Immigrations and Citizenship Services, was on WPLG’s This Week in South Florida in February, talking about national immigration issues. He served as city manager from 2018 to early 2020, when he resigned amid a political battle with the City Commission and accusations from Carollo that he had abused his position to avoid code enforcement violations on his home deck. An ethics investigation later found that Gonzalez committed no wrongdoing.
Carollo also tried to fire Gonzalez in 2019. And Russell was one of the no votes that thwarted it.
Commissioner Higgins posted a campaign launch video that starts with news footage of the corruption that’s been swirling around Miami City Hall for years.
Read related: Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins could join Miami Mayor’s race
“We’ve had enough. Families are struggling. Businesses can’t thrive. When City Hall is filled with corruption, nothing gets done
for the people,” Higgins says in the 81-second video, where she speaks a little bit of Spanish, too.
“I’m running for mayor to get things done,” La Gringa says. “I’ve delivered for your as your county commissioner,” she said, citing her experience in affordable housing, helping small businesses and creating and protecting green spaces. “Miami, now I’m ready to go to work for you.”
She ends the video with a reminder of how she was first elected to the county commission in an upset against Zoraida Barreiro, wife of former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, when La Gringa was relatively unknown. Alex Diaz de la Portilla was in that race, too, but didn’t make the runoff.
“In 2018, we beat the odds. With your support we’ll do it again,” Higgins says. “Miami, this is our time. Nuestro momento.”
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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.
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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.

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