Miami-Dade Commissioner Rene Garcia filed paperwork earlier this month to run for mayor in Hialeah, after Esteban “Steve” Bovo announced that he was leaving for a Washington, D.C., lobbying gig. But is Garcia really running?
He didn’t have a press conference to announce his candidacy. There is no announcement post on any of his social media. Garcia filed quietly and without any fanfare — on April Fool’s Day, no less. He’s always had a sly sense of humor. He has also told people and the media that he is not 100% in, and has until qualifying in July to make up his mind.
His campaign is so non-existent that Bovo went on La Poderosa last week, eight days after Garcia filed his paperwork, to say he hoped to persuade Garcia to step up and run for mayor. Like he didn’t know he had already?
Many political observers say this is a ruse and that Garcia does not intend to resign his county commission seat. They say he’s just doing longtime ally Bovo a solid by freezing out the mayor’s sworn enemy, former Councilman Bryan Calvo, with the mere possibility he’s going to run. Garcia, who started his career as a Hialeah council member and went on to serve in the Florida Senate, would easily and immediately be the frontrunner. Anyone who might have donated to Calvo’s campaign might now think twice about that.
It would also discourage any other potential candidates from running for the seat. Already Council Member Jesus Tundidor, who had been a potential mayoral candidate before Garcia barely jumped in, filed paperwork — three days after Garcia did — for the commission seat in District 13 instead. But is he really going to run for county commissioner?
Read related: Hialeah Mayor Steve Bovo exits with pension, names Rene Garcia ‘successor’
Because observers also say that Tundidor could switch with Garcia in July, and step into the mayoral race. The other possibility is that Bovo and his camp support a run by Jacqueline Garcia-Roves, who was council president and is now interim acting mayor. Or someone else altogether. Commissioner Carl Zogby has also expressed interest.
Maybe Rene Garcia’s candidacy is designed to give Bovo and his clan the next two and half months to decide what happens.
But Tundidor’s political action committee, Stronger United, raised $210,000 in the first quarter of this year, according to the campaign finance reports recording transactions from Jan. 1 to the end of March — which was before Garcia filed for Hialeah mayor and before Tundidor filed for county commission. So those donations — which include $25,000 from real estate developer Michaeld Wohl and $10,000 from All American Amusements, a maquinita company that also supported former Mayor Julio Robaina — were most likely for a mayoral campaign. And there’s no way they didn’t happen without Bovo’s okay.
And the bulk of the contributions came on March 11, which was more than a month after the rumors of Bovo’s impending departure were published in the Miami Herald.
“It wouldn’t surprise me one way or another. When it comes to Hialeah, anything is on the table,” said Calvo, who resigned his seat to run for Miami-Dade tax collector last year and lost the Republican primary to Dariel Fernandez. Calvo has also heard the rumors of the ghost candidacy, but said he is not changing his campaign in any way.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m running regardless of who it is against.”
Sen. Garcia told Political Cortadito Thursday that his candidacy was not a political maneuver. “I am considering it seriously” he said, adding that he is “talking to residents and trying to figure it out where I best serve.” The response so far? “Honestly, it’s a mixed bag.”
Read related: Bryan Calvo becomes first candidate to file for November Hialeah mayor’s race
Some people have said they want him to run and others have said that they want him and need him to stay at the county. “That weighs heavily on me,” Garcia said, adding that he’d also be the third county commissioner to step off the dais this year. District 5 Commissioner Eileen Higgins announced earlier this month — the day after Garcia filed for the Hialeah race — that she was running for Miami mayor and District 6 Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, or rather former District 6 commissioner Cabrera, resigned this week and was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Panama.
“If I leave, that’s three new seats on the commission,” said Garcia, who was automatically re-elected last year with no opposition. “I made a commitment to serve for four years.” And he’s doing some important work, he added.
“My priority has always been Northwest Dade,” Garcia said. “That’s the quagmire.”
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Flowers sat on the dais Thursday in the space where Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes usually sat as his colleagues voted to hold a special election June 3 to replace him. The 80-year-old District 4 commissioner died last week after being hospitalized. There was a lovely public tribute Wednesday in front of City Hall before he was laid to rest.
The city commission could have voted Thursday to appoint someone to the seat until the November election — which many thought would happen with the justification of an estimated $180,000 to $380,000 in the estimated cost of a special election —  or to hold a special election for the vacancy, and a term that would end in 2027.
Read related: Miami Commission will meet to try to replace Manolo Reyes, who died at 80
“We are not kingmakers,” said Commission Chair Christine King, adding that an appointed commissioner would have an advantage in the November election. She would have supported appointing someone who didn’t live in District 4 and who couldn’t eventually run as a de facto incumbent. “So we wouldn’t be tipping the scales,” she said. “Six months in office is a lifetime.” It would actually be seven months. But appointing someone outside the district is not allowed — nor should it ever be.
Commissioners Miguel Gabela and Damian Pardo — who is the product of a special election — made it clear that they were not in favor of an appointment.
“At the end of the day, let the best man or woman win,” Gabela said, adding that candidates were already campaigning anyway for the November election and that it would avoid “finger pointing” about special interests and favoritism.
Pardo questioned the $380,000 quoted by City Clerk Todd Hannon — $350K for the election and $30K for notices — and learned that the real cost of the 2023 special election was much higher than the $176,657 that was actually billed by Miami-Dade County.
Qualification will begin April 21 and end on April 25 at 6 p.m. Hannon will reach out to the county to see if early voting can be scheduled for May 30, May 31 and June 1 at the Shenandoah and West Flagler library branches.
Among the candidates expected to jump in is Ralph Rosado, who was at the meeting Thursday and might have thought he would be appointed. Lots of people thought that — Commissioner Joe Carollo even said on his morning radio show that Rosado would be his choice — but las malas lenguas say it would have been a split 2/2 vote and forced a special election anyway.
Rosado, who got a parade of residents to endorse his appointment, expressed his condolences to the commission and Reyes’ family. “He was an exceptional public servant,” he said.
Read related: Miami remembers Manolo Reyes while Joe Carollo kicks off mayoral campaign
But then he quickly went into his pitch.
“It would be the honor of a lifetime to serve with each of you and represent a community that I love so much,” Rosado said, citing his experience as former city manager of North Bay Village (2019-2024), where he prepared the budget, oversaw the police and ran a municipal post office. “I’m ready to hit the ground running,” he told the commissioners.

He’s also the president of Rosado & Associates, which proves “urban planning and neighborhood revitalization strategic services to select local governments, nonprofits, and private clients,” according to his LinkedIn profile. Sounds like a conflict of interest waiting to happen. Maybe that’s why he didn’t mention it at the meeting.
Rosado, who lives in Coral Gate, did talk about his experience on the Miami’s citizen oversight board for the $400 million bond, which has included work on housing, flooding, and parks. He was appointed to the board by Reyes, who beat him in the 2017 election (Rosado got 36%).  He knew better than to challenge Reyes last year. But he’s been campaigning ever since anyway.
“For the last seven years, I have been able to express a deep commitment to this community,” Rosado said, and he told the commissioners about 200 or so trees he’s helped plant in the district, the decontamination of Douglas Park that he advocated for and negotiations he has had with the developers of the old Sears store site to lower the number of residences they plan to build under the exemptions of the Live Local Act. He said these talks were successful. We’ll have to get more on the later.
Read related: 2025 Miami Commission contests could be battles between some known names
He has also reportedly been knocking on doors already in preparation for a race later this year if Reyes had jumped into the mayoral contest, as he had announced he would last year (but before his health took a turn). So he has an advantage in a special election because of his name rec from 2017 and his door knocking this year — and the $268,000 or so he has put away in his political action committee, Citizens for Ethics in Government since November (that includes $100K of his own money, btw).
Rosado supporters said that the city did not have to incur the cost of a special election, which one resident said usually draws a poorer turnout, when they had a qualified and experienced person who could be a “stop gap” until November.
But other people — people who would not benefit from a de facto incumbency like Rosado would — urged for a special election.
“It’s important to let voters decide,” said Brenda Betancourt, who is running for commissioner in District 3. “We have plenty of other ways to save money.” She also reminded the commission that many people probably didn’t know about the special meeting.
Ariel Trueba, the chair of the LGTBQ+ Advisory Board — and Reyes’ appointment to that board — did know about both the meeting and what the city should do.
“As someone born and raised in District 4, I would like to elect my commissioner,” Trueba said.
The post Miami voters to fill Manolo Reyes’ District 4 seat with June special election appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera officially resigned his county seat Monday and was then sworn in as the U.S.’s new ambassador to Panama in a packed commission chambers. The next day, Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez announced the creation of a web portal for residents of District 6 to express intros and submit the necessary documentation to be considered as a potential appointment, which means he could be leaning toward that route rather than having a special election (more on that later).
The Miami-born Cabrera — a Florida International University graduate — thanked his family, friends, the employees of Miami-Dade, his District 6 team and his colleagues for their support, partnership and encouragement since he was elected in 2022. The chambers was packed.
“It’s not even a budget meeting,” Cabrera said as he took the podium right after he was sworn in by Florida Supreme Court Justice John Couriel, where he swore to defend the constitution of the United States. “I’m not sure if you’re here because you like me or because you can’t wait for me to leave,” he joked.
It was probably a little of both.
Cabrera, who served as Florida state director for both the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign in 2020, thanked President Donald Trump and Congress for their trust and said he was committed to the president’s “purpose of restoring strength, respect and purpose to America’s role on the world stage.” He also said he would guided by the question Secretary of State Marco Rubio has as a criteria on foreign policy: “Does this policy make America safer, stronger and more prosperous?”
Read related: Kevin Cabrera tapped as Panama ambassador; so who will replace him?
“That’s a question that will guide me daily,” Cabrera said. “I also carry with me the values I upheld during my time in local government — accessibility, accountability and a focus on getting things done. Those values were not just talking points. They were the foundation  of our work.”
He mentioned some of the things he was proud of — opening district offices and establishing mobile office hours, resurfacing streets, traffic calming measures, securing millions to combat crime, modernizing traffic signals and more — since he was elected in 2022.
‘Though I may be serving abroad, Miami-Dade County will always be home,” Cabrera said, before the crowd erupted in cheers and applause as he walked over and hugged his mom.
Rodriguez, who introduced him, said the diplomatic appointment “of one of our own to such a vital position is a point of pride for our entire community” and lauded Cabrera, his friend, for what he had accomplished in such a short time.
“Serving others is his calling. He listens, sometimes,” Rodriguez said to laughter. “He has earned this moment through years of tireless dedication and I have every confidence he will approach this next chapter with the same integrity and strength that brought him here to this county commission.
“A lifelong public servant, a thoughtful leader and a true bridge builder, Kevin brings not only deep experience to this role, but also a genuine commitment to diplomacy,  rooted in respect, partnership and purpose,” Rodriguez added.
Read related: Who has the best hair? Miami-Dade’s Anthony Rodriguez or Kevin Cabrera
The U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment of Cabrera — made in December when Trump praised Cabrera’s service regional experience. “Few understand Latin American politics as well as Kevin,” — last week.
Nine days earlier, Cabrera had time to cut the ribbon on the newly enhanced Brothers to the Rescue Memorial Park at 2420 SW 72nd Ave., which is one of the region’s most popular recreational spaces for baseball and softball, with new ADA-compliant bleachers and walkways, updated fountains and new lights and security fencing, among other enhancements. It was named in honor of individuals who risked their lives — and four of them were shot down and killed over international waters by the Cuban government in 1996 — to help Cuban-American rafters survive the crossing of the Florida Straits.
Cabrera, who was born to Cuban exiles, pitched a ball right over home plate to the delight of what looks like hundreds of kids on a county video posted on Facebook.

“I’m excited to be here at Brothers to the Rescue Park in District 6, one of the few baseball parks in Miami-Dade,” he said, thanking staff for their work and crediting residents and the baseball league associations for bringing him concerns.
“And here you see government in action.”
Wait a minute. Doesn’t he have to pack? What does one pack to go to Panama to be the U.S. Ambassador, anyway?
“Guayaberas and suits,” Cabrera, who is leaving at the end of the month, texted Ladra after telling her that he couldn’t do interviews without coordinating through the embassy. Oooh, lah, lah.
Read related: Does Miami need another airport? Commissioner Kevin Cabrera asks
Cabrera has also gotten a ton of congratulations he has to answer with digital thank you notes. Or his mom will get pissed.
“Congratulations to my dear friend @KMCabreraFL on being confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to Panama,” Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart exclaimed on his social media. “Kevin is a true patriot and dedicated public servant committed the cause of freedom in our region, and with a clear understanding of putting America’s interests first.
“The United States and Panama share a strong, strategic partnership rooted in democratic values. As a key player in combatting mass migration, narcotrafficking, and authoritarian regimes, Panama is vital to regional stability. There is no one better suited to advance our national security interests and strengthen this critical alliance.”
It’s interesting that nobody — not Rodriguez, not Cabrera, not Diaz-Balart — said anything about taking over the Panama Canal.
It was also missing from Cabrera’s online video message, which was also posted last week.
“Serving as your Miami-Dade Commissioner has been the honor of a lifetime. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish together because every project, every initiate and every step we took was about one thing serving you the people of Miami-Dade County,” Cabrera said in the recorded video.
“We prioritized the safety of or streets and neighborhoods, installing traffic calming devices and lowering the speed limit to 25 mph indoor neighborhoods and your parks, while resurfacing over 60 miles of roadway and repairing countless potholes,” he said. “As chair of the Miami International Airport committee, we’ve made investments of $9 billion to modernize our airport. These upgrades will improve infatsructiure elevate the travel experience and help ensure our airport remains a world class gateway for this region.
“And through it all we’ve stayed close to the people, solving thousands of constituent services and hosting mobile office hours and town halls bringing our government directly to you.
“Now, as I prepare to serve our ratio as the us ambassador to Panama, I will carry with me these values that guided us every step of this journey — accessibility, accountability and results,” Cabrera said. “Miami-Dade County wil alwasmys be home.
“It’s been an incredible journey. Our work made a difference, and that’s something I’ll always carry with me.”
The post Miami-Dade’s Kevin Cabrera leaves for Panama, county gets set to appoint appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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It’s not just about immigration and national security. It’s not just about veteran’s rights and climate change. It’s not just about education and the raiding of treasury records and the tariff wars that are going to raise consumer prices and the manipulation of the stock market and the tanking the global economy for personal gain and the marginalization of the LGBTQ community.
It’s about all of it.
A protest planned for this Saturday in downtown Miami is described as being more like a “full-scale mobilization” against “the
billionaire takeover” and all things Trump/Musk. “Because this administration has betrayed us on all fronts,” an email flyer says. “They want us silent? We’re showing up with pots, pans, and purpose.”
Pots and pans! ¡Ya tu sabes!
Read related: Palmetto Xway billboard compares Donald Trump to Cuba’s Fidel Castro
The event is being promoted by the 50501 organization — which stands for “50 protests, 50 states one movement” — that also helped organize the national Hands Off! protests April 5 that saw hundreds of thousands of people show up in Washington, D.C, New York, Los Angeles, Utah and everywhere — with some very creative signs.
According to Newsweek, the group has posted on social media that the goal is to get 3.5 percent of the U.S. population — which would be more than 11 million individuals — to the different protests nationwide. This is apparently the threshold for “sustained resistance in order to make a difference,” the magazine article reported.
Among the speakers slated to be at the Miami event is United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats, a onetime candidate for lieutenant governor, who will speak on behalf of teachers, parents and students. She said that it is important for people to know what it really means to lose the federal Department of Education for special needs and economically disadvantaged students. The real ramifications, she said, are shuttered programs and kids left out.
“It’s important that our people mobilize,” Hernandez-Mats told Political Cortadito. “It’s not going to slow down. It’s going to keep up ramping up.
“Countries that are successful against authoritarianism are countries that have under representation, but also big movements.”
She said the goal is to encourage congressional leaders to take action.
“These fascist, authoritarian attacks are unprecedented and we’re hoping Congress takes back its power.”

There will also be “action stations” to engage voters:

Indivisible Miami Action Team will help you start organizing in your own backyard—because change begins at the block level.
50501 Florida is setting up a mobile call center—with scripts and info ready—so we can flood our Congressman’s office with calls. Just show up, sit down, and dial in.
@Moms4Libros and @ehrforce will register voters, help them make vote-by-mail requests, and recruit poll watchers to “defend democracy at the ballot box.”

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The late Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes, who probably would have run for mayor if he hadn’t gotten sick and died last week at the age of 80, will get a proper statesman’s funeral procession and his casket will get a drive by past City Hall Wednesday morning, where there will be a special tribute ceremony open to the pubic at 10:30 a.m., before the funeral mass at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Little Havana.
Meanwhile, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and his supporters will be preparing for his mayoral campaign kick-off fundraiser hours later Wednesday night on Krome Avenue.
Tacky, tacky. Talk about bad taste. Ladra hopes nobody shows.
Carollo told Political Cortadito Monday that he didn’t plan the party at El Toro Loco Ranch — an “adventure farm” with ponies, a petting zoo and ATVs for riding on the five-acre property — which is being thrown by his political action committee, Miami First. And that it wasn’t his fault that it was on the same day as Reyes’ burial.
Read related: Miami Commission will meet to try to replace Manolo Reyes, who died at 80
It only seems like Crazy Joe is dancing on the man’s grave!
“One, let me be very clear: I don’t control people that want to throw fundraisers for PACs,” Carollo told Ladra on the telephone Monday, after he probably answered it by mistake. He even asked who it was. The caller ID must have failed.
Carollo also said that the fundraiser was planned “long before Manolo died” and then deflected, as Carollo is wont to do.

“Why don’t you ask Eileen Higgins, Ken Russell and the great colonel of the swamp, Emilio Gonzalez, if they had any respect for Reyes by filing to run for mayor while Manolo was sick,” Carollo said, referring to Miami-Dade Commissioner Higgins, former Miami Commissioner and congressional candidate Ken Russell and former Miami City Manager Gonzalez. He added that he had not yet decided that he would run for mayor.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet,” said Carollo, who is termed out of his district seat, so he has to go somewhere. And Miami First already has $1.7 million or so sitting in the bank account, according to the latest campaign finance records.
And Shangri La doesn’t really exist, you know?
Carollo did not return subsequent phone calls or a text message asking if he could have the event rescheduled, which everyone knows he could do and would be the decent thing to do. But, then again, he is Carollo. Decency is a stranger.
The fundraising kickoff is on the edge of the Everglades, probably as far from the city of Miami as one could get. It seems appropriate, because Carollo is acting like a reptile and we already know he doesn’t care for the city.
The post Miami remembers Manolo Reyes while Joe Carollo kicks off mayoral campaign appeared first on Political Cortadito.

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In the final three months before his re-election last week, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago raised more than $389,000 for his political action committee, Coral Gables First, spending almost $330,000 on direct mail, email, text messaging, digital ads, political consulting, canvassing, polls and fundraising.
These contributions did not become public until two days after the election, in the first quarter 2025 campaign finance report that was filed Thursday. And they only include contributions and expenses made through March 31, leaving more than a week out before the April 8 election.
Read related: Vince Lago, Rhonda Anderson handily coast to re-election in Coral Gables
They include some interesting financial commitments from some interesting sources:

$50,000 from real estate developer Stuart Miller, executive chairman and co-chief executive officer of Lennar Corporation.
$25,000 from real estate developer Dagrosa Capital Partners, where Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is senior partner.
$20,000 in 20 separate $1,000 checks from real estate investor Tomas Cabrerizo.
$15,000 from investor Rafael Villoldo, who launched a scent with Donald Trump in 2012 when the former was vice president of Perfumania.
$12,000 from attorney Gonzalo Dorta, who is representing Lago in his lawsuit against Actualidad Radio.
$10,000 from The Calta Group, which is building Via Veneto, a luxury development of 10 three-story townhouses on Palermo Avenue with pre-construction prices starting $5.7 million.
$10,000 from Boston Capital, an asset management company that owns a mini storage facility in Kendall.
$10,000 from Republican super donor Max Alvarez of Sunshine Gasoline Distributors.
$7,500 from Andres Rodriguez, owner of The Salty Donut.
$5,000 from real estate investor Pablo Cejas.
$5,000 from the PAC that belongs to former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, the same PAC that got more than $200,000 in contributions that were flagged as bribes from the owners of a private school the commissioner wanted to gift a public park to. He was arrested on bribery and money laundering charges in 2023 that were later dropped.

Maybe that last one was a you scratch my back situation, since Lago gave ADLP’s PAC $5,000 in 2023, just six weeks before the latter was arrested.
Some of Lago’s expenses are interesting also, like the $22,575 (plus $8,500 last year) that went to Emiliano Antuñez, who also worked on the campaign for Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, mostly for door-knocking. That’s nothing compared to the more than $110,000 paid to head campaign consultant Jesse Manzano just since January.
Other expenses include $45,000 worth of TV and cable advertising, more than $35,000 in direct mail, more than 33,200 in phone banks, more than $15,000 in photo and video production, and $27,740 on his digital footprint and social media, not including $16,250 in media consulting paid to Daniel Bustamante. And that is just in the past few weeks.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago rakes in campaign funds, much from developers
When added together, the $478,475 raised in Lago’s campaign account and the $389,000 raised for his PAC just this year, the total is $867,475. Doing more math shows that if you divide that by the 5,577 people who voted for Vinnie the Liar, the mayor basically paid $155.55 for each vote. And that’s not counting the PAC money from 2024. It’s probably more around $200.
In comparison, Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who lost with 38% of the vote, raised $32,500 for his PAC, The Coral Gables Way. A third of that was from different firefighters unions and another third was from real estate interests. Added to the $41,000 raised in his campaign account — which is almost as much as Lago spent just on text messages since January — that’s total of $73,500 through March 31. Divided by the 3,792 people who voted for him, that’s $19.38 per vote.
Both those figures will very likely go up once we get the campaign finance reports for the first eight days in April. But one thing that won’t change is the lopsided funding in this race and the special interests investments.
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