In a traumatic evening, historic race for Miami-Dade sheriff gets thrown into turmoil

By all measures, the race for Miami-Dade County sheriff was Freddy Ramirez’s to lose. Now political insiders say the contest is wide open.

As the county police director running for essentially the same job in the 2024 election, Ramirez, 52, brought high name recognition and substantial television exposure in uniform. He also shared campaign staff with fellow Democrat Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, his boss and the county’s leading fund-raiser.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade police chief shot himself in the head after fight with wife at Tampa hotel

His perceived political starlight evaporated overnight Sunday when news broke that Ramirez had shot himself after an apparent altercation with his wife, Jody, that was alarming enough to draw police to their Tampa convention hotel.

Listed as critically injured in a Tampa hospital, Ramirez and his campaign team haven’t spoken about his future. But privately, talk among potential sheriff contenders and campaign consultants has turned to who Democrats might back instead and how Republicans can capitalize on a reset race.

“The circumstances are tragic and horrible,” said David Custin, a Republican political consultant. “Republicans are emboldened.”

With Ramirez’s health uncertain and county officials and police quiet on details about what happened, people from both parties said it was too soon to speculate about the political implications of Sunday’s events. Privately, they said that speculation was already underway, with discussions and calls about who might run in a contest without Ramirez.

County voters abolished the sheriff post in the 1960s, and Miami-Dade’s mayor oversees the police department run by an appointed director. But a 2018 amendment to the Florida Constitution forced Miami-Dade to join the rest of the counties in the state in electing independent sheriffs.

While Levine Cava and other county leaders hold non-partisan posts, sheriff and other state-mandated positions are elected in partisan contests. Ramirez in May filed to run in the Democratic primary for sheriff, three months after he joined the party.

The deadline to recruit someone who may not already be a member of the Democratic Party has passed. Florida law requires primary candidates to be members of their chosen parties at least a year before the qualifying period begins. That window opens in June 2024 for county sheriff, meaning the party books closed on would-be candidates last month.

READ MORE: Miami-Dade’s police director left the GOP and became a Democrat. Is sheriff run next?

Who might enter the race?

That could leave one talked-about candidate out of reach for Democrats seeking a high-profile replacement for Ramirez. Jorge Colina is a former Miami police chief recruited by both parties for the 2024 race ahead of Ramirez’s entry but who declined to run.

Colina, like Ramirez, a former Republican, said Tuesday he’s an independent. He also declined to speculate whether he might consider running if Ramirez wasn’t a candidate.

“At least for me, it’s way too soon to even give that consideration,” he said. “I think the world of Freddy. I’m very fond of him.”

The race already has five candidates, including Ramirez. Rickey Mitchell, a retired county police officer, is the other Democrat. Three are Republicans: Mario Knapp, also a retired county police officer; Ruamen de la Rua, a Miami police officer; and Jaspen Bishop, who shows no campaign finance activity yet and whose background wasn’t publicly available.

Other would-be candidates were waiting in the wings, too. Joe Martinez, a former Miami-Dade commissioner and retired county officer, planned to run in 2024 before he was arrested on a corruption charge last year and this week sounded like a potential candidate if acquitted.

“This hurts,” Martinez said in a text message after Ramirez was hospitalized. “Yes, we would have been opponents in the 24 race for Sheriff, but he was and is still my brother...I will be praying for him and his family.”

From an expected Ramirez victory to wide open

While Ramirez was expecting competition in the sheriff election, political operatives on both sides described him as the clear favorite before Sunday.

“It’s almost like facing an incumbent. That’s the thing,” said Alex Rizo, chairman of the county Republican Party and a member of the Florida House. “When you look at the Miami-Dade police director and all of the exposure that he had received over the last few years — he was extremely public.”

Fernand Amandi, a Democratic pollster in Miami, said Ramirez not only was the “800-pound gorilla” in the sheriff race but also provided a valuable ticket-mate for Levine Cava in a re-election campaign in which she plans to make public safety a top issue.

Ramirez was “certainly the overwhelming front-runner,” Amandi said, “and also someone who really protected Mayor Levine Cava on the law-and-order and law-enforcement flank.”

Amandi called it too early to speculate what’s next for Democrats.

“I think what happens now is that everyone should focus on making sure Director Ramirez recovers as quickly and as best as he can,” he said. “Let the political questions emerge a different day.”

Ramirez was reportedly talking Tuesday after at least two surgeries in Tampa. Along with questions about his long-term health and recovery, he’s facing state police investigations into his self-inflicted gun wound and the events that led to it.

Ramirez apparently saw the political damage ahead after the hotel altercation with his wife and the interaction with Tampa police. He placed calls to Levine Cava and his campaign manager, Christian Ulvert, to talk about what happened and discuss his future, sources said. Levine Cava’s office has not released details about the conversation.

Rizo said a sheriff election without Ramirez would mean a more competitive contest that’s bound to draw formidable Republican candidates.

“It does change the dynamic,” he said of the likelihood of a contest without Ramirez. “It’s more of what I would call an open race.”