Higgins, Diaz de la Portilla unleash attack ads in District 5 Miami-Dade commission race
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Accusations of socialist sympathizing are not uncommon in Miami elections.
The race for Miami-Dade County’s District 5 commission seat follows a similar pattern, where one candidate — typically the Republican — casts his Democratic opponent as a socialist.
But this time around, the attacks go both ways. Commissioner Eileen Higgins, the mild-mannered incumbent Democrat, is facing two Republicans in the Aug. 18 election. One of them, general contractor Miguel Soliman, 57, has stuck to policy.
Her more outspoken rival, former state representative and Miami-Dade School Board member Renier Diaz de la Portilla, has gone on the attack against Higgins, accusing her of being anti-police and rolling out an ad campaign featuring looting protesters and a doctored photo of Higgins wearing a Che Guevara-style military beret.
Higgins, 56, has not shied away from confrontation. Her ads on Spanish-language TV superimpose images of Diaz de la Portilla in front of a waving Chinese flag and with a photo of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in the foreground. The ad claims that Diaz de la Portilla is “supported by special interests tied to China and communist Nicolas Maduro,” which he said was untrue and “confusing.”
The root of the claim, according to Higgins campaign consultant Christian Ulvert, lies in campaign finances. Former Miami Congressman and Venezuelan oil consultant David Rivera has contributed to a political committee supporting Diaz de la Portilla in the race, Ulvert said. The alleged China ties, Ulvert said, come from the campaign support Diaz de la Portilla enjoys from Ralph Garcia-Toledo, a lobbyist and partner in the proposed Genting monorail project that would connect South Beach to the mainland. During a 2018 trade mission to Asia, Garcia-Toledo organized for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to meet with the chairman of Genting on a cruise ship in Hong Kong.
Higgins pulled her support of the $770 million tax-funded project after a May 22 county ethics report unearthed that Garcia-Toledo helped arrange the Genting meetings. Diaz de la Portilla called Higgins a “hypocrite” for changing her vote, saying that she should have opposed the deal from the onset.
For both candidates, the election will pose a tough political test, and they have both spent tens of thousands of dollars in campaign advertisements. Higgins, who was elected in a 2018 special election, has never won a general election. And Diaz de la Portilla, who is coming off a string of political disappointments, has not served in public office since leaving the School Board in 2012.
“I’m running because I care deeply about this community,” Diaz de la Portilla, 49, told the Miami Herald. “I was born and raised in this community.”
Higgins said her work is not done.
“I would be honored and privileged to have everyone’s vote again because I believe that the things I enjoy working on, am qualified to work on, are the needs that the community still has and has at an even more profound level as we emerge out of COVID,” she said.
From Miami Beach to Little Havana
Diaz de la Portilla, Higgins and Soliman are running to represent parts of Miami Beach, Miami and Brickell — and Coral Way neighborhoods like The Roads, Silver Bluff and Shenandoah.
About 63% of registered voters in District 5 are Hispanic. About 37% are Democrats, compared to about 26% Republican.
Higgins has raised $329,457 as of the most recent filing period. Diaz de la Portilla, who entered the race in May, has raised $264,345. Soliman has raised $101,780.
Soliman, who in 2017 ran for City Commission in Miami, said he wants to be an advocate for residents — not a politician. He has proposed linking the cities in District 5 via public water trolleys, attracting business investment in the area by constructing corporate campuses and tapping the Drug Enforcement Agency to crack down on street-level drug dealing in Little Havana.
“I would create a line of ferries from downtown to Miami Beach,” he said. “That would take tens of thousands of trips off the 836, creating a world-class experience for our citizens and the tourists.”
Diaz de la Portilla, who said the seat should go to a Hispanic candidate, has proposed a series of COVID-19 stimulus packages for unemployed residents and small businesses. He said his experience in government following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack and the 2008 financial crisis make him qualified to lead the county out of the COVID-19 crisis.
“I was an elected official during the 9/11 crisis, I was in the state House of Representatives, and we got out of that,” he said. “And I was on the Miami-Dade County School Board when our tax books took a huge hit as well during the foreclosure crisis. I’ve been in leadership positions during crises before, and I know how to get out of it.”
Higgins, a Spanish-speaking Ohio native, has proposed improving public transportation by linking county bus routes with municipal trolley lines to create a wider net of service and identifying neglected properties to be converted into affordable housing. She said her background in marketing, and later as director of the Peace Corps in Belize and as a Foreign Service officer in the State Department make her uniquely qualified to work in county government.
“This district chose me to represent them, and I intend to represent them to the best of my ability,” she said. “It is the choice of the people who live in the district.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 8:34 PM.
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