West Miami’s new mayor is the youngest municipal mayor in the state of Florida, a chubby-cheeked, blue-eyed baby-face who looks more like a high school student than a politician.
Eric Diaz-Padron, 27, could also be the next Marco Rubio, the U.S. senator and 2016 presidential hopeful who started his career as commissioner in this same tiny town of less than 8,000 people.
Diaz-Padron, whose father Carlos Diaz-Padron was mayor twice — first from 1992-94 and again from 2000 to 2002 — beat incumbent Rhonda Rodriguez with a comfortable 20+ point lead. That’s really good for a guy who is always on the losing end of a 4-1 vote.
Almost 25% of the city’s 3,829 registered voters participated in the April 12 election. Nobody else even knew.
Diaz-Padron was a baby when Rubio served on the West Miami Commission. But he became active in the city and Republican politics since he was practically 12, which looks like it could have been yesterday.
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Like Rubio, he was a law student when appointed commissioner in 2019 to replace Rodriguez, who was commission president and moved to the mayor’s office. In 2020, he won election when nobody filed against him. Nobody filed against Rodriguez either. This is what it’s like in West Miami, where nobody filed against any of the commissioners this year, tampoco.
But Diaz-Padron said he decided to run for mayor because the city is stuck.
“In 2020, we didn’t pass a single piece of legislation. So I wasn’t going to sit there for another two years doing nothing. I would rather be at home,” Diaz-Padron told Ladra. “There was no progress and development was rubber-stamped. Residents have issues with development.”
Recently the commission approved an 8-story building on Southwest 8th Street. It was another 4-1 vote.
Diaz-Padron said he will focus on controlling development, and wants to specifically look at stricter height limitations, he said. It was one of his campaign promises. He would prefer buildings be capped at five or six stories. “It just fits better with our residential city,” the new mayor said.
He also plans to work on improving public safety, lowering taxes and making government more efficient. He wants to introduce legislation to make the speed limit 25 MPH on residential streets.
Read related: Marco Rubio gives State of Union response from West Miami
Prior to serving on the city commission, he served on the Board of Trustees of the Miami-Dade Transportation Trust, the City of West Miami Charter Review Board, and on the Miami-Dade Millennial Task Force, serving as Chair of the Economic & Community Development Subcommittee, Planning Advisory Group for the Miami-Dade East-West Rapid Transit Corridor, Florida Bar Grievance Committee – Eleventh Circuit, and the Florida League of Cities Land Use and Economic Development Committee. Diaz-Padron currently serves on the Florida League of Cities Young Elected Municipal Officials Advisory Council and the Miami Dade County International Trade Consortium.
Did we mention he’s 27 years old?
As commissioner, Diaz-Padron sponsored the independent traffic study ordinance, which makes traffic studies related to development more transparent, and the Veterans Only Parking initiative which was later adopted by other cities, including Miami and Sweetwater. He worked with Coral Gables Vice Mayor Vince Lago and Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes to create multi-agency human trafficking task forces and joint enforcement zones between the cities’ police departments.
Both men were at his swearing in by Florida Supreme Court Judge John Couriel. So was Miami-Dade Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz, Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, Miami Gardens Councilman Robert Stephens, Miami Lakes Councilman Josh Dieguez, Miami-Dade School Board Member Cristi Fraga, Sweetwater Commissioner Ian Vallecillo, Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez and former West Miami mayor turned Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa.
She’s a big fan.
Read related: John Couriel opens campaign HQ next door to Rebeca Sosa
“Besides being intelligent, he is very much a people person. He loves to walk the streets and talk t the neighbors,” said Sosa, who is also considered Rubio’s political godmother.
She remembers when he was a toddler and he would come to City Hall with his dad. As commissioner, Diaz-Padron worked with Sosa on getting home delivered meals to seniors during the COVID-19 crisis.
“It is wonderful when you see young people who already have a lot of experience,” Sosa told Ladra. “He comes with experience and with a wonderful desire to organize the city.”
For starters, anyway. It is pretty obvious that Diaz-Padron — who sponsored resolutions in support of TPS for Venezuelan exiles, relief for Cuban doctors involved in human trafficking and modifying the state’s school funding formula — has higher aspirations.
Watch him run for state House in two to four years. Like you-know-who.
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