Four Miami-Dade county commission races are headed to runoff elections in November

Several races for Miami-Dade County Commission seats are headed for runoff elections in November after a historic primary Tuesday where seven of 13 seats were contested, including five vacated by incumbents due to term limits.

With all votes counted by Wednesday morning, four of the seven commission races had no single candidate with more than 50%, according to the unofficial results. Candidates needed a majority of votes to win outright in the primary. Otherwise, the two top vote getters square off in a November runoff.

In District 9, Democratic State Rep. Kionne McGhee took 37% of the vote while Homestead City Councilman Elvis Maldonado edged out attorney Marlon Hill by just 274 votes for second place, pulling in 23% of the total in a five-person field.

Cindy Lerner and Raquel Regalado are headed for a runoff in District 7, with Lerner up 40% to 37% with a margin of about 1,500 votes. In District 5, incumbent Eileen Higgins was shy of an outright majority with 47%, and will face a runoff against challenger Renier Diaz de la Portilla, who took 39%. And Miami City Commissioner Keon Hardemon fell less than a percentage point shy of winning outright as he led second-place finisher Gepsie Metellus by 28 points in District 3.

“Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst,” Hardemon told the Miami Herald late Tuesday as he awaited the final tallies, looking to avoid a runoff. “I’ll be prepared to win in November,” he said.

In a closely watched two-person race in District 1, Sybrina Fulton, the mother of the late Trayvon Martin, fell just short against Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert. Gilbert won by 331 votes and less than 1% with more than 34,000 votes counted.

Voters approved term limits for the county commission eight years ago that are now triggering required departures from a board where incumbents rarely lose. Miami-Dade will also get a new mayor in November, with Carlos Gimenez termed out and running for Congress.

Below is a summary of the commission race results as reported by the county elections department.

District 1

In the race to represent District 1, Fulton gave Gilbert an impressive run but came up short.

Gilbert, a former prosecutor, has presided over the city of Miami Gardens since 2012. Fulton was thrust into the national discourse of police brutality following the killing of her son, Trayvon Martin, by a neighborhood watchman in 2012. Her candidacy has received national news coverage.

Miami Gardens, the biggest majority-Black city in Florida, is part of the northern Miami-Dade district. Both candidates ran to replace term-limited County Commissioner Barbara Jordan, who endorsed Gilbert.

Gilbert edges Fulton in Miami-Dade commission race that was closely watched nationally

District 3

Hardemon seeks to replace Commission Chairwoman Audrey Edmonson, who is termed out of office after 14 years representing a district that includes parts of downtown Miami and neighborhoods. Metellus, the director of the Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, came in second place.

Hardemon, 36, was first elected to the Miami City Commission in 2013. He previously ran against Edmonson for the county’s District 3 seat in 2012, losing in the runoff.

This time, he’ll face a runoff against Metellus, the director of the Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center.

District 3 includes the Miami neighborhoods of Liberty City, Little Haiti, Wynwood and Allapattah, plus the villages of El Portal and Miami Shores. Minority groups dominate the area, where 45% of voters are Black and 33% Hispanic.

District 5

Higgins will head to a runoff against Diaz de la Portilla.

Higgins, 56, was elected to the County Commission during a special election in 2018. She first defeated Alex Diaz de la Portilla, now a Miami city comissioner and her current rival’s brother, before beating Zoraida Barreiro in the runoff election.

Renier Diaz de la Portilla previously served as a state representative and Miami-Dade School Board member. He and Higgins have attacked one another in political advertisements in the run-up to Tuesday’s election.

District 7

During a virtual victory party Tuesday night, Lerner said she was looking forward to the November runoff with Regalado. She thanked volunteers, contributors and voters.

“Just keep it up,” she said. “We’ll need more of that in November.”

Regalado, 46, is the daughter of former Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado. She and her opponents are running to take the spot of another former Miami mayor, the term-limited Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, who is running for county mayor. She ran for county mayor in 2016 and lost to outgoing Mayor Gimenez.

Regalado, the mother of two teenagers with autism, said she will push for more vocational training and job placement for adults with disabilities if elected. For Lerner, a former mayor of Pinecrest and state representative, conducting a countywide audit of environmental issues is among her top priorities.

The district runs from Key Biscayne to Kendall, and includes parts of Miami, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Pinecrest and South Miami.

Regalado said the turnout in the District 7 race “made history” with more than 45,000 residents voting. She said her campaign was “grateful for the support we received today.”

“We look forward to November and the opportunity to speak directly to voters once again regarding the issues that impact our community,” she said in a statement.

District 9

McGhee, the outgoing House minority leader, will take on the longtime Homestead city councilman Maldonado in November.

The winner will replace one of the county’s longest-serving officials, Dennis Moss, who was first elected in 1993 and endorsed McGhee to take his place. Moss is departing due to term limits.

Transit is a key issue for Miami-Dade’s southernmost district, where residents were promised an extension of the Metrorail system almost two decades ago but have yet to see it. The county recently got approval to build a rapid-transit bus system through South Dade, but some District 9 candidates — including McGhee — say rail should take priority.

District 11

Incumbent Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez, who faced a challenge Tuesday from two candidates, won an outright victory with 55% of the vote over former state representative Robert Asencio and Christhian Mancera. Ascenio pulled in 29% and Mancera 16%.

The district includes unincorporated areas of west and Southwest Miami-Dade, including West Kendall, Kendale Lakes, Bent Tree, Lakes of the Meadows, and Country Walk.

Martinez, 62, has cumulatively held his seat for 16 years. He received criticism early on during the COVID-19 pandemic when he said he was “tired” of hearing about coronavirus cancellations during a March 11 emergency meeting.

District 13

Former State Sen. Rene Garcia won an overwhelming victory against lone opponent Adrian Jesus Jimenez in the District 13 election with 77% of the vote.

Garcia will replace Commissioner Steve Bovo, a Republican candidate for county mayor.

The district includes Hialeah and parts of Miami Lakes. Garcia, 46, is a lifelong Hialeah resident and was first elected to the city council there in 1997 at 23 years old.

In 2000, García was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in the 110th District, which also includes Hialeah and Miami Lakes. He held that post until 2008 when term limits forced him to vacate, then was a state senator for eight years until term limits forced him out again in 2018.