Term limits bringing a new Miami-Dade County Commission in 2022. Who’s on the ballot?

The August elections will complete the political house-clearing that Miami-Dade County voters approved in 2012 for the county commission, with five incumbents forced to exit and a slate of newcomers and veteran officeholders campaigning to replace them.

“There aren’t many meetings left for us old-timers up here,” Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz, in office since 2002, said during Tuesday’s board meeting.

Nineteen candidates qualified for spots on the ballot for five races to fill commission seats, with only one incumbent running. For the sixth seat, former Miami Beach Commissioner Micky Steinberg won automatically as the only candidate to file to replace Sally Heyman, who has spent 20 years as the District 4 commissioner representing coastal areas.

All candidates on the ballot compete in the nonpartisan Aug. 23 election, with the top two finishers in each race advancing to a November runoff on Election Day if no contender takes more than 50% of the vote.

While Miami-Dade voters approved a two-term cap in the 2012 referendum, the rules didn’t apply to years in office before the charter amendment was adopted. Commission terms last for four years.

That meant commissioners on the board in 2012 could win two more consecutive terms before having to leave. Miami-Dade holds commission elections every two years, staggering between odd- and even-numbered districts.

In 2020, five commissioners in odd-numbered districts were forced out by term limits. This year, five veterans from even-numbered districts must go.

The churn will be significant: In 2020, the average tenure for a Miami-Dade commissioner was 14 years. Now it’s about 9 years. Once the winners of the 2022 elections take office on Nov. 22, the average tenure will shrink to just one-and-a-half years.

Candidates had until noon Tuesday to file their final candidacy papers, pay the $360 Miami-Dade charges for a ballot slot, and qualify for the August elections. Here’s a look at the races:

District 2: Held by Jean Monestime, in office since 2010

The race to succeed Monestime has also brought out the largest number of candidates, with six contenders to represent a district that includes the northern end of Miami and municipalities north of the city, including North Miami and North Miami Beach.

Monestime’s time on the North Miami City Council propelled him to the county commission, and the 2022 race includes North Miami’s current mayor, Philippe Bien-Aime, and a former mayor who left office in 2005, Josaphat Joe Celestin. Bien-Aime’s term as mayor ends next year, but he resigned effective in November to comply with Florida’s resign-to-run rule.

Though she finished fifth countywide in her 2020 run for county mayor, candidate Monique Nicole Barley-Mayo had a stronger showing in District 2, where she finished third ahead of two sitting county commissioners in the race. She owns a business consulting company and is the daughter of former state Rep. Roy Hardemon.

Wallace Aristide hopes to make the jump from public education to elected office, having served as principal of Miami Northwestern Senior High. William Clark is running after a career in county government as a paramedic, and he now oversees a youth mentoring program.

Candidate Marleine Bastien runs the nonprofit social services charity Family Action Network Movement, which she founded in the 1990s as Haitian Women of Miami. Monestime is the only Haitian American elected to the county commission, and Bastien joins Bien-Aime, Celestin and Aristide as Haitian Americans running to succeed him.

District 6: Held by Rebeca Sosa, in office since 2001

A stretch of communities between Hialeah and Glenvar Heights offers the latest test of Donald Trump’s political influence, with the former president endorsing one of the four candidates in the race to succeed Sosa.

On May 5, the former president announced his backing of Kevin Marino Cabrera, a lobbyist and campaign consultant who was part of Trump’s successful 2020 Florida campaign. He’s running under a “Dade First” slogan, and is married to Florida Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera, a fellow Republican whose state district overlaps with Sosa’s.

Trump easily carried the Republican-leaning district in 2020, beating Joe Biden there by 20 points. The one Democrat in the nonpartisan race, Victor Vazquez, is a retired Miami Dade College history professor and sitting member of the Miami Springs city council.

Candidate Dariel Fernandez holds an elected seat on Miami-Dade’s Republican Central Committee and owns an online business marketing company.

Sosa is backing another fellow Republican in the nonpartisan contest: Coral Gables Commissioner Jorge Fors Jr., a lawyer who resigned his seat effective in November. His first term on the commission was set to expire in 2023.

District 8: Held by Danielle Cohen Higgins, in office since late 2020

The one incumbent commissioner on the ballot this year still faces her first election. Danielle Cohen Higgins, a lawyer, was appointed to the open District 8 seat by county commissioners in late 2020 to fill a vacancy left when Daniella Levine Cava was elected county mayor.

Levine Cava is backing Cohen Higgins, who faces two opponents on the August ballot to represent a South Miami-Dade district that includes the municipalities of Cutler Bay, Palmetto Bay and parts of Homestead.

Karen Patricia Baez-Wallis was until recently director of the emergency room at the Jackson South Medical Center, an expansion hospital serving South Miami-Dade in the county-funded Jackson hospital system. Baez-Wallis said she resigned her post to run for the District 8 seat.

Alicia Arellano has helped organize her South Miami-Dade neighborhood of Valencia Acres on traffic and development issues before the county, and coaches youth swimming as well.

District 10: Held by Javier Souto, in office since 1993

Anthony Rodriguez, a Republican Florida representative representing the 118th District since 2018, is trying to make the switch from state to county elected office.

Candidate Martha Bueno, who helped found an online vitamin company, has been a critic of Souto, particularly on his failed effort to pursue turning the neighborhood of Westchester into its own city. All residents in District 10 rely on the county government for all municipal services, with no cities inside its boundaries.

After a career in federal law enforcement, Susan Khoury also is running for county commission after advocating on some county issues, including establishing Miami-Dade’s new oversight board for police. She recently won $500,000 in damages in a lawsuit she filed claiming misconduct by a county school police officer.

Julio Sanchez was the latest in filing, submitting his papers on Monday. He lists his occupation as partner at an information-technology company in the Miami area.

District 12: Held by Jose “Pepe” Diaz, in office since 2002

After scrapping with Diaz over expansion plans, Doral Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez is running to succeed him in District 12. The two have sparred over Doral annexation efforts Diaz opposed in favor of allowing the land to go to Sweetwater, where Diaz may run for mayor again once off the commission.

The other candidate is Sophia Lacayo, a former Sweetwater commissioner who gave up her seat in 2020 when she pleaded guilty to perjury for falsely saying she lived in the city.

This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 7:30 PM.