Incumbent Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández wins another term

Incumbent Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández, a retired policeman who has been a fixture on the city council, bested two challengers in Tuesday’s municipal elections, winning nearly 80 percent of the vote for another four-year term.

Hernández defeated real estate agent Tania García, 61, and Juan Santana, a 34-year-old political activist who tried to dethrone Hernández in the 2013 election but lost.

Hernández, 56, had to battle just to get his name on the ballot.

A lawsuit filed in May sought to bar the incumbent from running. The suit alleged that he had already met the limit of two terms because he was appointed mayor in 2011 when the former mayor, Julio Robaina, resigned to run for mayor of Miami-Dade County. Hernández then ran in 2013, won and served a full four-year term.

Hernández contended he had not served two full terms. A judge ruled in his favor.

During his campaign, Hernández ran on a pledge to continue construction of an industrial area that will house four large companies in ​​1.6 million square feet and to complete the redevelopment of the city’s southeast area.

In the District 5 council race, Carl Zogby, 55, who has worked more than 20 years for the Hialeah police department and currently serves as its spokesman, defeated Ernesto Ávila, Juan Carlos Santana and Ángel Fajardo with more than 75 percent of the vote. Incumbent Luis González could not seek re-election due to term limits.

In the District 7 council race, Katharine “Katy” Cue Fuente, the incumbent, defeated challenger Rafael Gómez, a retired policeman, with more than 76 percent of the vote.

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 10:02 PM with the headline "Incumbent Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández wins another term."