Once Miami’s mayor, Tomás Regalado returns to politics for a Miami-Dade run

Douglas Hanks
·2 min read
2

Six years after leaving public office as Miami’s mayor, Tomás Regalado is running for property appraiser in Miami-Dade County.

The 76-year-old Republican filed papers this month to compete in the GOP primary for the office currently held by Pedro Garcia, 86, who is not seeking re-election after three consecutive terms overseeing the appraisal system.

The property appraiser’s office sets taxable values for all properties in Miami-Dade, calculations that set annual tax bills based on rates set by local governments.

Regalado is the father of County Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who is running for a second term this year representing parts of Miami in District 7.

READ MORE: She works for the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser. Now she’s running for his job.

They would appear on the same ballot in August if both races are contested. For the moment, Tomás Regalado is the only Republican who has filed for the property appraiser race. Raquel Regalado faces two challengers for the District 7 seat she won in 2020 after holding elected office on the Miami-Dade School Board.

Marisol Zenteno, who has worked at the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s office for nearly years, is seeking the top job as a candidate i the Democratic primary.
Marisol Zenteno, who has worked at the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s office for nearly years, is seeking the top job as a candidate i the Democratic primary.

While the election for property appraiser had previously been non-partisan, changes in the Florida Constitution will make the 2024 election a partisan contest. Democrat Marisol Zenteno, who works in the office and lost to Garcia with 46% of the vote in 2020, is running for property appraiser again.

Before Regalado filed, Zenteno, 57, was the only candidate. The deadline to join the race is in June.

It’s been decades since power shifted this much in Miami-Dade. What’s next?

Regalado is a long-time television journalist who served two terms as Miami mayor between 2009 and 2017.

In an interview, Regalado said he had planned to run for mayor again in 2025 but opted to run for property appraiser after Garcia decided not to seek reelection. “I’m ready,” he said. “I love campaigning.”

In 2018, President Donald Trump appointed Regalado to lead Radio and TV Martí, the U.S.-funded broadcast operations in Miami that the U.S. government uses to counter state-run media in Cuba.

Regalado left the post in 2019. He returned to Spanish-language broadcasting and currently hosts programs on the Mega TV broadcast network and a radio show on 106.7 FM.

Regalado said he would anchor his campaign on the high cost of homeownership in Miami-Dade, saying he’ll lobby Tallahassee for tax relief for residential and apartment building owners.

Zenteno said that while Regalado is better known, he lacks the hands-on experience she has with the county’s property appraisal system as a nine-year employee at the office.

“I think I’m the person to beat, to be honest,” she said. “We need somebody with new vision. It’s an important office.”