René García ditches Hialeah mayoral race — after stirring the political pot

County commissioner endorses Jackie Garcia-Roves
Surprise, surprise. Not.
Miami-Dade Commissioner René García officially pulled the plug last month on his not-so-convincing bid for Hialeah mayor, confirming what just about everyone in political circles and their abuelas already knew: He was never really in it to win it.
The District 13 commissioner — whose turf includes parts of Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Miami Lakes, and some of that unincorporated no-man’s land in northwest Dade — filed in March to run for mayor in the November election. But from day one, Garcia was bluffing like a Magic City poker player with a busted flush.
He filed quietly, without any fanfare or press conference. Remember when former Mayor Esteban “Stevie” Bovo, who resigned in March to go lobby in Washington, D.C., (where his wife works with Secretary of State Marco Rubio ) went on La Poderosa to say he was trying to convince Garcia to step up and run for mayor — eight days after the county commissioner had already filed paperwork? Because not even Bovo knew.
That paperwork, by the way, was stamped by the city clerk on April Fool’s Day. Was that a forewarning?
Read related: ‘Rene Garcia for Hialeah Mayor’ could be a decoy for someone else to run
Garcia, a former state senator who started his career as a Hialeah Council member, gave Political Cortadito and other media outlets classic politico non-answers to questions in April — something about Florida’s resign-to-run law and how he had months to decide. “I am considering it seriously” he told Ladra, two weeks after he filed the paperwork. He said he was “talking to residents and trying to figure out where I best serve.”
Guess he got his answer. Garcia is staying put in his comfy county commission seat, saying he can best serve his constituents there and citing the tough budget year ahead. “Now is not the time to step away. Public service is not about chasing titles,” he said in a statement, practically polishing his halo. “It’s about answering the call to serve where you are most needed.”
Or it’s about answering the call to be a placeholder until Bovo and the Hialeah political cabal could figure out who to back, between former Council Member and Interim Mayor Jacqueline “Jackie” Garcia-Roves and Councilman Jesus Tundidor, who would have run for the county commission seat if Garcia had stayed in the city’s mayoral race. Spoiler: It’s Garcia-Roves.
Garcia snubbed Tundidor — his former political protégé, having once served as his legislative aide in Tallahassee — and endorsed Garcia-Roves last week, when she officially filed to run and had a press conference to announce it. Ouch. That’s gotta hurt. Although it seemed obvious from the love René showed Jackie at her swearing in (photos from Rene Garcia’s social media).

“Although I know votes are not transferable,” René Garcia said to the TV cameras last week, standing in front of City Hall, “and Jackie is going to have to work to assure the voters in this city that she is the most upstanding, because I know she is the most upstanding and capable to serve our community.”
He did not return calls from Ladra to provide more specific details as to what makes her the most upstanding nd capable.
The interim mayor resigned her council seat, which she won in an unopposed re-election in 2023, on the day after René Garcia said he was not going to run. And Ladra doesn’t believe in coincidences.
Read related: Steve Bovo’s parting gift: Retirement benefits for himself, Hialeah electeds
So, what did Tundidor fail to promise the establishment? Or what did Garcia-Roves offer?
“I really don’t know what it is,” Tundidor told Ladra Tuesday, sounding a little hurt. “René Garcia is a mentor of mine. I worked for the guy. I did everything I could to help him.”
Rene Garcia did stick his neck out to go against the establishment, supporting Tundidor when he first ran in 2019.
“I guess it has to do with other people. I think they got to him more than I did,” said Tundidor, who resigned his seat last month, on the same day that Garcia announced he would not run. It’s not effective, however, until the new mayor is sworn in. Por si las moscas.
“The good thing is, we’ve been down this road before. We’re a lot more known now than in 2019, so this road doesn’t scare me. I’ve been battle tested. I’ve proven myself,” Tundidor told Political Cortadito. “I hope people really look back to see who’s done what while they were in office.”
Hialeah’s mayoral race is always a political blood sport. And this year is no exception. Qualifying ends July 28, and there are already at least six hungry candidates circling City Hall like it’s a fresh croqueta tray at a campaign event. They include mixed martial arts fighter Manuel “Manny” Reyes Jr. 79-year-old commercial real estate owner Bernardino Norberto Rodriguez, and real estate investor Marc Anthony Salvat.
But, really, there are only three viable candidates, so far. Garcia-Roves, Tundidor and former Council Member Bryan Calvo, who lost his primary race for Miami-Dade tax collector last year, getting 48% of the vote, and has already been campaigning for about five months. All three served on the council together.
Calvo — who tangled loudly and publicly with Bovo over public records and emergency response times — is seen as the anti-establishment choice and could benefit from a tug-of-war between Tundidor and Garcia-Roves over the establishment support (read: money) and vote.
Garcia-Roves has more people pulling on her side of the rope, including Hialeah Housing Authority Executive Director Julio Ponce, who has access and serves as gatekeeper to thousands of vulnerable voters (more on that later) and who gave the interim mayor a big hug when she filed last week, captured by Univision 23.
First elected in 2019, beating longtime activist Milly Herrera with 54% of the vote, she was part of the corrupt Carlos Hernandez Seguro Que Yes council. She drew no opponents four years later and recently had a campaign event that raised almost $70,000 for her political action committee, New Conservative Leadership, even before she announced her candidacy last week. The most recent campaign finance report, filed for the quarter ending June 30, shows that $20K of those contributions come from the same maquinita coin game companies that donated heavily to the campaigns for Hernandez and former Mayor Julio Robaina before him. She uses the same longtime Hialeah campaign consultant, Ana Carbonell.
It’s like the whole Hialeah mafia is lining up.
But Garcia-Roves has not sponsored a single piece of legislation in more than four years.
“Clueless,” is a word mean people use to describe her. Too often. Las malas lenguas say she is easily controlled and will be a puppet for Bovo and René Garcia and even Hernandez to continue pulling the strings.
Tundidor was first elected in 2019 and was also re-elected in 2023 without opposition. Before that, he was on the city’s planning and zoning board. He won his seat in his first race working against the establishment and the Hernandez campaign machinery. He has sponsored several key legislative initiatives in the city, including a ban on permanent RV homes in single family residential neighborhoods, and recently passed an affordable housing ordinance. He told Political Cortadito Tuesday that he’s already knocked on 800 doors.
Calvo was elected in 2021, winning in a runoff against Angelica Pacheco with more than 67% of the vote (Pacheco was subsequently elected in a different election and suspended by the governor after she was arrested on healthcare fraud charges last year). Calvo resigned to run for tax collector last year and lost in the primary to Dariel Fernandez, but still got more than 50,000 votes and only came up 4,000 short. Add that to the fact he’s been knocking on doors since February and he’s got plenty of name recognition. Some might argue that it’s more than Garcia-Roves and Tundidor, who are at slightly different degrees of relative anonymity.
They are certainly going to be easier to run against than Rene Freaking Garcia.
Read related: Bryan Calvo becomes first candidate to file for November Hialeah mayor’s race
“For me, it’s great news,” Calvo told Political Cortadito on Tuesday. “Rene was always the person with the most positive name I.D.”
Calvo also challenged the other two candidates — both of whom have advantages as current electeds (more on that later) — to a debate. “Every resident deserves the opportunity to see and hear directly from the candidates and to ask questions about the issues that matter most,” he said.
“Their game is to hide the candidate,” Calvo told Ladra, adding that Garcia-Roves’ public statements are “highly edited and scripted.”
Anyway, this latest round of musical chairs in the City of Progress promises to be one of the best telenovelas this year. With a crowded mayoral field and with five council seats — including two special elections — on the November ballot, the city is heading into one of the most crowded and, likely, chaotic election seasons in recent memory.
Stay tuned. Ladra will be watching. With popcorn. And a cortadito. Dark, por supuesto.

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