Miami-Dade commissioner already beat one Diaz de la Portilla, now she faces another
Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins already beat one Diaz de la Portilla brother on her way to victory during the 2018 election.
Now she is up against the youngest of the three politically connected brothers, Renier Diaz de la Portilla, a former Miami-Dade School Board member. He filed on May 21 to run against Higgins in the District 5 race in the August election.
Higgins, a Spanish-speaking Ohio native who used the campaign nickname “La Gringa,” won a 2018 special election to replace former Commissioner Bruno Barreiro, who resigned to run for Congress.
Then a political newcomer, she beat Alex Diaz de la Portilla, now a city of Miami commissioner, in the primary and then overtook Zoraida Barreiro, the former commissioner’s wife.
The district covers the cities of Miami and Miami Beach. Rounding out the field of candidates is Miguel Soliman, who ran for the Miami City Commission in 2017.
The primary will be Aug. 18 and the general election will be Nov. 3.
“I look forward to a spirited campaign over the next three months,” Higgins told the Miami Herald. “I’m proud of the great work we’ve done for District 5 in the short two years since I was elected to the commission.”
Higgins, who considers transportation and affordable housing among her political priorities, has raised just over $273,500 toward her reelection effort. Soliman, a general contractor, has raised about $61,700. Diaz de la Portilla has not yet reported campaign contributions.
Soliman told the Miami Herald that, if elected, he would propose creating a public transit option along the Miami River using a line of ferries.
In a statement to the Herald, Diaz de la Portilla said voters would appreciate that he was “born and raised in this community and shares its values.”
He also counted transportation and affordable housing among his campaign pillars, along with “creating jobs in a post-Covid world,” he said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic.
“As a former elected official here for 10 years, I know how to get things done,” he said. “As a lawyer in private practice for years now, I also understand we have to get this local economy going again.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 7:38 PM.
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