Mayor Levine gets a challenger in Miami Beach
First-term Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine will face a challenge from David Wieder, chairman of the city’s Historic Preservation Board.
Six candidates will compete to succeed Miami Beach Commissioner Jonah Wolfson, who is prevented by term limits from running again for the Group 4 seat.
The qualifying period for Miami Beach mayor and city commission candidates for three separate seats concluded Friday for the Nov. 3 election. If no one wins with 50 percent plus one vote in a race, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff Nov. 17. The races are nonpartisan.
Levine will be a tough candidate to beat. A wealthy businessman, he poured almost $2 million of his own money into his campaign and beat sitting Commissioner Michael Góngora in 2013.
The mayor garnered 1,572 more votes (14 percentage points) than Góngora, narrowly avoiding a runoff.
Levine is CEO of Royal Media Partners, an exclusive partner of Royal Caribbean Cruises.
Levine loaned his re-election campaign $250,000 in late August.
Wieder, a lawyer, has said he decided to run because of what he considers overdevelopment and ethics issues in the city. He appointed a campaign treasurer in late August and has not submitted any reports so far showing if he has raised any money.
Here is a list of those who qualified for City Commission:
City Commission Group 4
▪ Michael DeFilippi: realtor and member of the city’s citizen sustainability committee.
▪ Scott Diffenderfer: realtor and president of the Belle Isle Residents Association and member of city’s transportation and parking committee for seven years.
▪ Kristen Rosen Gonzalez: speech and communication professor at Miami Dade College and former board member of the Miami Beach Leadership Academy Alumni Association.
▪ Isaiah Mosley: environmental scientist with the URS Corporation.
▪ Jonathan Parker: DUI defense attorney in Miami Beach.
▪ Elizabeth “Betsy” Pérez: music business professional who works with her husband, songwriter and record producer Rudy Pérez. Rudy Pérez produced the city’s centennial concert in March.
City Commission Group 5
▪ Ricky Arriola: chief executive officer of Inktel Holdings, a global outsourcer of business and direct marketing services and immediate past chair of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts trust board.
▪ Mark Weithorn: husband of term-limited Commissioner Deede Weithorn, a real estate agent who does web development for real estate agents and is a member of Miami Beach’s transportation and parking committee.
City Commission Group 6
▪ John Elizabeth Alemán: information technology consultant, executive board member of the North Beach Elementary PTA and chairwoman of the city’s quality education committee.
▪ Mark Samuelian: management consultant, real estate investor and community affairs leader for the Alton Road Business Association
Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 8:01 PM with the headline "Mayor Levine gets a challenger in Miami Beach."