In a resounding defeat to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, voters solidly rejected the strong mayor initiative by 65% of the vote Tuesday — a signal that the new mayor doesn’t exactly have the mandate he thought he had.
Is Francis the Future suddenly the Prince of the Past?
Maybe it wasn’t a complete loss. Voters did approved the Miami Freedom Park retail complex with a soccer stadium that he lobbied so hard for. But they approved that and the lease and development of the Miami Riverfront Center property by 60 percent — and then shut Suarez down.
It was like, yeah this, sure that, and then nananina to the Suarez power grab, which he has spent several years and millions of dollars on.
It’s not just a huge blow to Baby X — whose allies on the dais just got targets on their backs — it hurts his papa, Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who has had thoughts of running for county mayor in 2020.
It’s bittersweet for Ladra. Because while we did not support the strong arm mayor move, we certainly don’t enjoy how smug Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and his cohorts are feeling right about now. Both raised money for campaigns against the measure. We won’t know how much they spent for weeks.
And Ladra is pretty sure this sets the stage for a Gimenez run for Miami mayor in 2021. Then he will try to push forward a different strong mayor referendum that he will call strong mayor lite.
Suarez is likely going to lie low for a few days, but he already told the Miami Herald that he wanted to try again with a different, probably also “lite” version.
Ladra thinks he should try to score a few victories first and concentrate on making the voters who elected him — and who have been shaking their heads for the last few months — remember why he was once Francis the Future.

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It started good at the top of the ticket. Then, ouch.
Was former Sen. Bill Nelson and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum actually winning with absentee ballots? Because early results had them just over 50.
Even Jeffrey “Doc” Solomon had 525 votes over newly-elected State Rep. Vance Aloupis, right, who ended up winning by 591 votes.
But that feeling of rising hope quickly turned to disbelief and dread when the blue wave turned into a wipeout after Gov. Elect Ron DeSantis and former Gov. and Senator elect Rick Scott turned it around.
We had a few bright spots where the wave did crash nicely.
Democrats gained two seats in Congress, with the election of Donna Shalala over Republican Maria Elvira Salazar (though not as solid as she should have) and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell‘s stunning victory over Carlos Curbelo. That’s a bright silver lining for Ladra that we will come back to.
And Ladra’s favorite new elected, mom gone mad Cindy Polo beat back former Miami Lakes Councilman Frank Mingo in District 103. That was a tremendous upset as Polo, right, was underfunded and losing in Miami-Dade, 56 to 44 percent. The voters in Broward — because the district also includes Miramar — saved us flipping those numbers so she won 53 to 47 percent.
But locally, Polo was it. Democrats failed everywhere else.
While Miami-Dade was overwhelmingly pro Gillum and pro Nelson — they won the 305 each with about 60% of the vote — and Democrats were able to defend Sen. Annette Taddeo from a challenge by Republican superwoman Marili Cancio (next time, Marili, don’t attack with lies about Taddeo and the NRA and talk about your own achievements), they let another Senate bid die and lost several opportunities to gain Florida House seats — even letting one flip red in District 118.
Former State Rep. Robert Asencio became a one-term legislator probably because he was too busy trying to help everybody else and didn’t campaign enough to keep his own seat. Granted, it was definitely an upset surprise for Anthony Rodriguez, who lost the primary two years ago to King David “Nine Lives” Rivera, to beat him ever so slightly, 51% to 49%.
The same narrow win gave Doral Councilwoman Ana Maria Rodriguez a seat in the House, replacing Ambassador Carlos Trujillo in District 105, beating Javier Estevez by a scant 560 votes. Democrats are used to voting for Ana Maria, right, that gap was expected to be even wider, but only because the party invested zero time and money in this flippable district.
The real pain comes with what happened up north, where special interest favorite State Rep. Manny Diaz Jr. beat firefighter hero David Perez for the Senate seat in 36 vacated by Rene Garcia (who will run for county commissioner in two years).
Now we heal and rest until next year when it’s time to gear up for 2020. Maybe Democrats will figure something out between now and then.

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Ledger: Bell seals deal for statehouse, incumbent House delegation goes 3 for 3

Sun-Sentinel: Floridians approve 11 of the 12 proposed constitutional amendments

Herald Tribune: Joe Gruters wins state Senate District 23 race

Herald: Manny Diaz (not the coach nor the ex-mayor) captures state Senate seat