Happy New Year, voter! Are you ready for 2024?
If anybody thought elections in 2023 were interesting — what with corrupt Miami Mayor Francis Suarez being a pretend presidential contender for all of five minutes and incumbent losses in Coral Gables and the city of Miami — next year will likely be as good or better.
One reason is because there are so many former somethings running for something else.
Sure, there will be judicial and state races, and we’ll get into those later. There will be the all-consuming presidential race. But Miami-Dade voters will also face a whole bunch of local choices that could make their heads spin.
And we are not just talking about the clown car of sheriff candidates.
Read related: Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava aims for reelection via petition
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava faces her first re-election challenge among a voter base that is not too happy with her and against popular Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid, who paints himself as a hardworking everyman next to her jet-setting, land baron, millionaire self. Yes, there are other candidates. But, so far at least, this is going to be a David and Goliath contest with Cid and Cava.
Then there are seven county commissioners whose terms are up. Seven!
As of the end of 2023, incumbent Commissioners Eileen Higgins, Kionne McGhee and Rene Garcia had no challenge yet. Neither did commissioners Oliver Gilbert and Roberto Gonzalez — the latter would be running for the first time after being appointed by the governor in 2022 to replace Joe Martinez, who may or may not run for sheriff — but they have not filed their intentions either.
Read related: Failed House candidate Rob Gonzalez is tapped for Miami-Dade District 11 seat
In District 3, Commissioner Keon Hardemon is facing a challenge from Marion K. Brown, who has spoken against a charter school in Liberty Square. But the only real contest, so far anyway, is in District 7, where former Pinecrest Mayor and onetime state rep Cindy Lerner wants a rematch against Raquel Regalado, who won with just over 50.6% of the vote in 2020. That’s all. Who wouldn’t try again?
And on the School Board, the most interesting race so far is in District 3, where Lucia Baez-Geller has said she will not run again. Former Aventura Mayor Enid Weisman and former State Rep. Joe Geller lead a pack of four who want to replace her.
Incumbent School Board Members Steve Gallon III and Danny Espino have no challenge yet. But Mary Blanco and Luisa Santos could both have to defend their seats.
Former Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado broke Ladra’s heart and filed to run for property appraiser instead of going back to his old job. He’ll be going up against Marisol Zenteno, who ran against Pedro Garcia and lost four years ago.
Any other year, that would be the end of it. But because state voters in 2018 approved a measure forcing every county to elect a sheriff, a supervisor of elections and a tax collector, we have three new opportunities for professional politicians to keep feeding off the gravy train.
Read related: Joe Sanchez could join clown car of Miami-Dade sheriff candidates for 2024
The sheriff’s race is going to dominate the news, with 14 candidates so far vying for a job that hasn’t existed in Miami-Dade since 1967, when it was abolished due to corruption. Most of the candidates are Republican. Only two are women. Expect the words “law and order” to be repeated over and over.
Former State Rep. and lawyer to the pols JC Planas is running for Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, a position he was basically born for, against Willis Howard, a longtime political and campaign consultant who is part of the why North Miami Beach city politics is so crazy. Also running: Ruth Swanson, who tried to run for U.S. House in 2022 against Mario Diaz-Balart but was disqualified from the Republican primary.
Former Miami Beach Commissioner and onetime state rep. David Richardson is running for tax collector. He’s raised $460,486 so far and there’s nobody else vying for the job. I mean, who wants to be tax collector?
Read MorePolitical Cortadito
