Lobbying starts to fill Eileen Higgins’ D5 Miami-Dade commission seat

With the Miami mayoral elections just weeks away, thoughts are turning to who would replace Miami-Dade Eileen Higgins, who resigned her District 5 seat to run in the city. The resignation takes effect after the Nov. 4 election, whether she wins or not.
And everybody is betting that the commission is going to appoint someone.
Why wouldn’t they? They just had a brutal budget season and a special election will cost, well, something. And they’ve been on an appointing spree, with both Danielle Cohen Higgins and, more recently, Natalie Milian Orbis filling in for vacancies. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Roberto Gonzalez to the District 11 seat, but that was only because former Commissioner Joe Martinez was suspended after his arrest on public corruption charges.
So the likelihood of an appointment is high, especially since it wouldn’t have to be for the full three years left on the term. The district can be included in next year’s commission races, so it’s just a year. Even though that year gives the appointee a huge advantage when he or she runs.
And there are already wannabes chomping at the chance.
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State Rep. Vicky Lopez, who was just appointed to the governor’s new property tax reform committee, former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro — who left the District 5 seat in 2018 to run for Congress, but lost — and former Miami Commissioner Joe Sanchez, who lost last year’s race for county sheriff, have been floated as possible fill-ins. Former Miami Beach Commissioner and onetime State Rep. David Richardson, who filed to run for the D5 seat in 2028, has also talked to several commissioners as early as April, when he filed to run for the seat in an election.
Even though the county board of commissioners is nonpartisan, party politics often play into decisions. Especially when appointing someone. The commission is currently 7-6 for the blue team. When they appointed Milian earlier this year, all the Democrats but Higgins — who wanted an election — joined all the Republicans but Raquel Regalado, who also wanted an election. Maybe that’s because Milian was replacing a Republican. Or maybe that’s because Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins does whatever Chairman Anthony Rodriguez wants.
So, it stands to reason that they would choose a Democrat to replace a Democrat, no?
“Having represented Miami Beach and Little Havana both on the Miami Beach Commission and as a state representative, I would be honored to be considered for an appointment,” Richardson told Political Cortadito Friday. “I made phone calls months ago to express my interest, and then I filed to further express my interest.
“I have a deep understanding of the issues constituents face day in and day out, and believe voters would be best served by someone with my education and experience,” Richardson said, although neither of those things helped him in the Miami-Dade Tax Collector’s race last year, which he lost to Dariel Fernandez.
Read related: David Richardson seeks to replace Eileen Higgins on county commission
Sanchez, who did not return calls and texts from Ladra, is openly and publicly lobbying for the position.

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