After cancer battle, Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes plans to run for mayor, ‘God willing’
Miami City Commissioner Manolo Reyes said he had “a foot in the cemetery” last year after starting treatment for leukemia during the final weeks of his District 4 reelection campaign.
But with his cancer now in remission, Reyes celebrated his 80th birthday at City Hall earlier this month.
“It’s like I was born again,” he told the crowd after blowing out birthday candles.
Despite being term-limited as a city commissioner, Reyes said he’s energized and ready to run for elected office again — this time for mayor, “God willing.”
“Right now, you see, I’m in total remission, and it has been a miracle. … I feel good. I feel strong again, and I feel full of energy,” Reyes said in an interview with the Miami Herald last week.
READ MORE: Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes announces that his cancer is in remission
Under the city’s governance structure, the Miami mayor has veto power but no vote on the five-member commission. Nevertheless, Reyes said he would be an involved mayor working in tandem with commissioners.
Reyes said he feels compelled to run in next year’s election because he is “concerned about the future of the city of Miami.” The commissioner, who is still undergoing treatment, plans to file his official candidate paperwork later this year.
Reyes’ announcement marks the beginning of what could be a crowded race in 2025, with the city’s current mayor, Francis Suarez, termed out.
His announcement also follows a tumultuous year in City Hall, with Suarez becoming entangled in multiple investigations linked to embattled developer Rishi Kapoor, former Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla facing criminal corruption charges and former City Attorney Victoria Méndez preparing to leave the city after being ousted by commissioners.
The series of recent scandals is part of what’s motivating Reyes to run. He said there is a “cloud” hanging over City Hall as a result.
“I want to dissipate that,” he said, describing transparency as a core part of his philosophy.
That philosophy is part of the reason Reyes said he has pushed for a new Office of the Independent Inspector General, a proposal that will go before Miami voters in August. The office would have subpoena power and the ability to conduct investigations and have oversight of “city contracts, programs, projects, abuse, waste and mismanagement.”
Reyes said rehabbing the city’s reputation is important.
“In other words, I want to take that banana and throw it in the trash can because I don’t — I hate when they call Miami a banana republic,” Reyes said.
It took Reyes seven tries to win an election. He completed the final two years of Suarez’s term in 2017 after Suarez, then the District 4 commissioner, was elected mayor. Reyes was then reelected without opposition to a four-year term in 2019, and he won again in 2023 with nearly 86% of the vote.
Reyes has a reputation for personally advocating to state lawmakers to secure funding for District 4 and for focusing on neighborhood-level issues. During his tenure, Reyes made parks a priority for his district, with 10 new or redeveloped parks either completed or in progress, according to Reyes’ office. In 2019, Reyes was appointed as chairman of the city’s Downtown Development Authority.
Reyes has also been a vocal critic of the Miami Freedom Park soccer stadium deal, pledging to vote against the project since its inception in 2018.
But Reyes’ tenure hasn’t been without controversy. In 2022, he was named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo, who was fired by commissioners in 2021. Díaz de la Portilla, Commissioner Joe Carollo, City Manager Art Noriega and the city were also named as defendants. Acevedo accused the parties of violating his First Amendment rights and illegally retaliating against him for “speaking out against corruption and abuse of power by the City of Miami Commission.”
In the complaint, Acevedo referred to Reyes as being part of a “three-headed monster,” along with Carollo and Díaz de la Portilla. In an interview last week, Reyes stood by his decision to vote for Acevedo’s dismissal.
If elected, Reyes said he would seek to change the culture in City Hall, which he described as “let’s do as little as we can.”
“I’m not talking about all the employees,” Reyes said. “But there are some people that, by having that culture, give the city a bad name.”
So far, two candidates have officially filed to run for Miami mayor in November 2025: Michael Hepburn and Maxwell Martinez. Carollo, who is also termed out as a commissioner, told the Herald earlier this month that he doesn’t “want” to run for mayor but wouldn’t go as far to say that he wouldn’t run.
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