Eileen Higgins makes history winning special county race against the odds

Political newby heads into runoff with Zoraida Barreiro
Gringa political virgin Eileen Higgins either waged a very good campaign or voters in Miami Beach and Little Havana are tired of the same ol’, same ol’.
Higgins pulled a rabbit out of her hat Tuesday with an amazing upset, not just squeaking into a runoff as Ladra had predicted, but beating the front runner by two whole points in a special shotgun wedding election for Miami-Dade Commission that everyone expected her to lose. She goes into round two with Zoraida Barreiro, wife of the last commissioner in District 5, who everyone expected to win.
Higgins still has a runoff to go but she won round 1 with 35% of the vote, ahead of Barreiro with 33% and former State Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla was six points under that with 27%.
Pobrecito Alex. He has now lost three comeback bids. He was always running for number 2 in this District 5 commission race , because Barreiro — the wife of a 20-year incumbent — always had the advantage. Still, Ladra bets it hurts him to get beat by someone named Eileen Higgins who has only been in Miami for four or five years.
Maybe ADLP — who got no love from any notable Republicans and late nods from Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami Commissioner Crazy Joe Carollo — will get the message: Nobody wants you back in office. In the background is where you win.
Higgins had a very solid grassroots campaign and the support of local and state Democrats — who pushed hard for her — as well as most of the labor unions, which could have contributed to this win against two sorta incumbents with dynasty names and more money. Higgins raised just over $50,300 by Friday. Zoraida had raised $139,120 and ADLP had reported raising $92,150.
What makes it more amazing is that it didn’t happen over a three or four month period. It happened in four weeks. And in a special shotgun wedding election orchestrated to benefit the wife of former Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, who really didn’t have to make his resignation effective immediately but did because Republicans with political machines do very well in special elections.
“We took a newcomer who is passionate about issues and deeply involved in the community and that is why she was able to put together the right resources in a short amount of time,” said Christian Ulvert, a Democratic political operative whose team worked on Higgins’ campaign. “We targeted the right voters. It was a turn-out game.”
And that included Republicans, because Ladra knows quite a few who broke with the party — even though this is a non partisan race, it is sorta not — and Cuban-Americans who broke with tradicion to vote for la gringa Democrata.
“The stronghold Republicans had in Miami-Dade County is about to be gone,” Ulvert said, reminding Ladra that this is the third special election — which used to be a gift to the GOP — in six months won by the blue team. It comes on the heels of wins by Democrat Sen. Annette Taddeo (finally) against a state GOP giant like Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz (who beat ADLP, too) and lobbyist Javier Fernandez, who slayed Andrew Vargas, the handpicked proxy of former State Rep. and U.S. Ambassador Carlos Trujillo.
But Ladra is not so sure it was as anti-Republican as it was anti-incumbent — because both Barreiro and ADLP seem like incumbents, don’t they — and anti-dynasty. The first mail piece that dropped in the special election was a Higgins piece against political dynasties. That’s not a Democrat message. That’s not a Republican message. It’s a voter message.
“Tonight, voters showed that they are ready for fresh leadership and a new vision,” Higgins told a crowd of supporters who gathered at a Brickell pub to celebrate. “The residents of District 5 rejected status quo politics and are ready to elect a champion who will fight for a transit system that works, combat sea level rise with a plan and delivers on affordable housing initiatives.
“I’m ready to work harder to earn the votes of District 5 residents as we gear up for the June 19th election,” she said, because there is a runoff less than a month away and Higgins is again — despite the short-lived victory Tuesday — the underdog.
 

Read Full Story