As expected, a plantidate in the Miami Lakes mayoral race has forced a runoff between Commissioner Josh Dieguez and Vice Mayor Tony Fernandez, who came out of Tuesday’s first round with 47% and 42%, respectively. Yuniett Gonzalez, a political newbie who had donated to Dieguez before jumping in the race — not a good sign for a candidate — got 11%.

We can expect Gonzalez to endorse Dieguez any day now, hoping to throw her 1,793 votes his way. There were only 731 votes difference between Dieguez and Fernandez in Tuesday’s results.

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Some voters in Miami Lakes got a long, rambling text message about the village mayoral election — but not from one of the candidates. It was from former Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi , who recently got a $1.7 million settlement from the city for his defense costs in a federal bribery trial.

Vice Mayor Antonio “Tony” Fernandez, who is running to replace termed-out Mayor Manny Cid, voted against the settlement. And Pizzi is trying to make that seem like a bad decision.

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