Everybody who follows politics knows that there are winners and losers beyond those on the ballot. And in every election, it’s good to reflect on who those victors and has-beens are — and, maybe, why.
So, without further ado, a nod to the other winners of the Aug. 20 election — and a nudge to the losers. May they get the gist.
And the winners are:
Christian Ulvert has to be the big winner of the week. Not only did his No. 1 client, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, get re-elected on the first round, avoiding a runoff in November, but every one of his clients secured a seat on the constitutional slate: Former State Rep. JC Planas won the Democrat primary for supervisor of elections and James Reyes won the Democrat primary for sheriff. They will join former Sen. Annette Taddeo for clerk and David Richardson for tax collector, neither of whom had primaries, to fill out Ulvert’s dance card. It’s going to be a very good year for him, as he contemplates running Levine Cava in a statewide or congressional race. (FYI: State Rep. Ashley Gantt, another Ulvert client, also won her state house re-election, pretty handily).
Omar Blanco, who lost a congressional race in the Republican primary against Carlos Gimenez in 2020, is poised to become the nest state representative in House District 115 after beating two other wannabes for the position vacated by Alina Garcia, who will face Planas in the November election. Blanco, a county firefighter for more than two decades and former president of the firefighters union, also has a Democrat opponent, Norma Perez Schwartz, but that district is expected to stay red. Congratulations to State Rep. Blanco — and to the residents of HD115, who also win with a true public servant who will have their best interests in mind.
Tania Cruz Gimenez may be a novice political consultant, but she kicked Jesse Manzano-Plaza‘s ass on Tuesday. The Coral Gables attorney, and daughter-in-law of Congressman Gimenez, won big when Miami-Dade Police Assistant Director Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz came out first in the crowded Republican sheriff’s primary, getting just two points over obnoxious, er, obvious frontrunner Joe Sanchez, a former Miami Commissioner and longtime Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, who was represented by Manzano-Plaza, who used to work for Gimenez but apparently had a falling out. Karma? Revenge? Isn’t it the same thing? Cruz Gimenez certainly seems to have learned a lot since her failed bid for Coral Gables commission in 2021 and her thwarted attempt to recall Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo in 2020. Now, she goes up against Ulvert, a harder test.
Sen. Shevrin “Shev” Jones, chair of the Miami-Dade Democrat Party, is a winner, too. Not only did a bunch of his people win outright, he goes into November with an elevated profile thanks to a slew of campaign events and his constant “public statements” on local, state and national issues. Hmmm. Could he be pondering a run for something else? Ulvert might know.
Our newest losers are:
Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago has had a streak of bad juju, er, luck, recently. His petitions to force three referendums on the ballot failed miserably (and should be investigated for potential fraud). His attempt to lower the tax rate — mostly for the owners of large, expensive properties — failed after even his staunches ally, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, left him in the lurch (more on that later). His frivolous defamation lawsuit against Actualidad Radio for talking about an actual investigation into his conflict of interests was dismissed. And, on Tuesday, the voters of his city gave him a clear message about the long-planned annexation of Little Gables that he has been pushing hard for: Stop it. Maybe Lago will listen, but Ladra doubts it. He needs to be challenged in April so he is voted out of office. Any takers?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wasn’t on the ballot but got some hits nonetheless in last week’s election. In the school board races in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, the challengers he backed lost to Democrat incumbents. Closer to home, in Broward County, two appointees to the school board lost their seats to challengers. His Miami-Dade appointee, Mary Blanco, was forced into a runoff against Maxeme “Max” Tuchman , who is going to give the unelected incumbent a run for her money. Maybe DeSantis ought to stop trying to inject his poisonous rightwing culture wars into our school boards and do his job to better our lives. Ya think?
Disgraced former State Sen. Frank Artiles couldn’t thwart Blanco’s win in HD115 with the Tampa transplantidate he supported, Alian Collazo, who was registered to vote at the Largo house he owns until February, when he registered at Sen. Alexis Calatayud‘s house. Artiles may have to skip meddling in the November election — his trial on five felony election law violations, in connection with his 2022 plantidate in state senate District 37, starts next month.
Did Ladra forget anyone? Please feel free to nominate your own winners and losers in the comments below.
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