Miami-Dade picked a new county commissioner on Tuesday, without a single vote cast

Former Miami Beach Commissioner Micky Steinberg became the first 2022 candidate to win a county commission seat on Tuesday when the noon filing deadline passed and she was the only person running to succeed term-limited Sally Heyman.

The county charter considers an unopposed candidate elected, said Suzy Trutie of Miami-Dade’s Elections Department, meaning the Aug. 23 primary ballot will not have a slot for the commission’s District 4 election. Instead, Steinberg, 45, effectively won the race on Tuesday and is on track to take office in November with the other newly elected commissioners.

“Steinberg is elected unopposed,” Trutie said shortly after 1 p.m.

Nineteen other candidates qualified for their races on Tuesday, with Districts 2, 6, 8, 10 and 12 still up for election this year.

Heyman endorsed Steinberg for her District 4 seat

Steinberg last held office in the fall of 2021, when term limits required her to leave the Miami Beach City Commission after eight years. Steinberg said she expects her experience in city government to let her dive in quickly to county issues during her first term.

“I promise not to take this moment for granted,” she said in a statement after being declared the District 4 winner.

Steinberg is married to a former city commissioner, Richard Steinberg. A mother of two, ages 12 and 10, she grew up in the resort city. Miami Beach’s mayor, Dan Gelber, lives in her childhood home.

Steinberg, a real estate agent, lined up endorsements from Gelber and other elected officials throughout the coastal district, which includes most of Miami Beach north of Lincoln Road, some mainland areas around Aventura and North Miami Beach, and municipalities on the ocean, including Sunny Isles Beach and Surfside.

Heyman also backed Steinberg as her successor as term limits require her to leave the commission after 20 years on the board.

“The message is: She’s delivered before,” Heyman said Tuesday. “Public service isn’t new to her.”

Steinberg raised more than $600,000 for her campaign and political committee, Miami-Dade Forward, and has only spent about $130,000, according to the latest disclosure form.

While there won’t be a District 4 election in August, Steinberg’s election won’t become official until the ballots are counted for the other races.

That’s when Miami-Dade’s canvassing board will certify winners, and Florida’s Sunshine laws governing meetings with officeholders will kick in for Steinberg and other commissioners-elect, according to legal opinions posted by the Florida Attorney General. Any candidate that doesn’t receive more than 50% of the primary vote will face a runoff in November.

Levine Cava and Steinberg are political allies

Like Heyman, Steinberg is a Democrat on an officially nonpartisan board where Democrats currently hold a one-seat majority. She arrives as an ally to Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, the first Democrat to hold the position in 20 years.

They share a campaign manager in political consultant Christian Ulvert. When Heyman announced at the end of Tuesday’s County Commission meeting that Steinberg had been elected, Levine Cava responded with a whoop.

In an interview outside of a Starbucks near her family’s real estate offices on 41st Street in Miami Beach, Steinberg discussed some controversies and milestone decisions that may await once she and the five other newly elected commissioners take office on Nov. 22:

▪ Urban Development Boundary: The current commission has twice delayed a vote on expanding the Urban Development Boundary for a commercial project in South Miami-Dade, sparking a fight between environmental groups and developers over the line that divides the suburbs from farmland and the Everglades.

While that debate may be over before Steinberg takes office, other projects proposed for outside the urban area are waiting in the planning wings for the next commission. “I am an environmental preservationist,” Steinberg said. “I definitely don’t support unbridled growth.”

▪ Miami Beach monorail: The Levine Cava administration is scheduled to forward a recommendation on the for-profit company that wants to build a monorail connecting mainland Miami with South Beach, currently a $1.2 billion project that’s exceeded preliminary cost forecasts. “Obviously I believe in connectivity,” Steinberg said. “It has to make sense for the taxpayer. It will be interesting to see what the administration comes back with.”

▪ Sea-level rise: Miami Beach raised streets and installed pumps during Steinberg’s time on the city commission, but Miami-Dade County holds the biggest checkbook when it comes to storm-water management, county road systems and the sewage infrastructure that are vulnerable to rising seas and rain deluges during storms. “I think the county should start taking a bigger role,” Steinberg said. ”It’s a regional issue.”

This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 2:09 PM.