Republican Cordero-Stutz wins Miami-Dade sheriff’s race, first female at top post

A Republican veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department won the county’s first sheriff election since the 1960s on Tuesday, with Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz set to assume the law enforcement powers currently held by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

Cordero-Stutz, 54, becomes Miami-Dade’s first female sheriff, a position that county voters eliminated in 1964 after a string of corruption scandals. Cordero-Stutz is also the first Hispanic female sheriff in Florida history, according to her campaign.

At her victory party at the EB hotel near Miami International Airport, Cordero-Stutz took to the stage around 8:45 p.m. to thunderous applause and chants of “Rosie, Rosie. Rosie.” Besides her were U.S. GOP House reps. Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Gimenez, a former Miami-Dade mayor, and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava also was there.

After being introduced by former Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez, Cordero-Stutz promised to be the sheriff for all people in Miami-Dade.

“The sheriff must truly be independent of all political control to protect the community,” she told the crowd.

She also paid tribute to the Miami-Dade Police Department, where she has worked her entire career.

“My Miami-Dade Police Department, thank you for trusting me during this difficult year. I didn’t know I’d be a politician, but apparently I did alright,” she said.

And she made a promise to the more than 3,500 worn officers she will now direct: “I see you. I hear you. I have your back.“

In a statement released by his campaign shortly after 8 p.m., Reyes said he planned to continue as head of public safety in Miami-Dade. ”I want to send my sincere congratulations to our Sheriff-Elect, wishing her the best of luck in this crucial role,” Reyes said. “I look forward to working with her in pursuit of our shared commitment to keeping Miami-Dade County safe.”

Endorsed by Trump

Cordero-Stutz won the Republican primary for sheriff in August after securing the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. Her victory Tuesday overlapped with Trump’s own win of Miami-Dade, which ended 28 years of Democratic presidential victories in the county.

At the Reyes party at the Bay 13 brewery in Coral Gables, Reyes campaign director Christian Ulvert addressed a dejected crowd.

“Obviously, this is a tough evening for us,” he said, as he stood beside David Richardson, another Ulvert client and the losing Democratic candidate for tax collector. “It’s not what we hoped for.”

Currently an assistant director for Miami-Dade police overseeing investigations and other bureaus, Cordero-Stutz, 54, ran a campaign focused on her experience at the law enforcement agency. Reyes, on the other hand, spent most of his career in Broward County, where he ran the jail system and became a top administrator in the sheriff’s office there.

Levine Cava, the only county mayor in Florida to hold the powers of law enforcement, recruited Reyes, 47, to run Miami-Dade’s jail system in late 2022. She appointed him to oversee the police department as public safety chief just weeks before he filed to run in the Democratic primary for sheriff in January.

Big change in county’s largest police department

A change in the Florida Constitution in 2018 set up a sweeping change in the county’s law enforcement system, with Miami-Dade required to elect an independent sheriff in 2024. What was then Dade County abolished the sheriff’s office in 1966 after a string of corruption scandals, with the powers ultimately resting with the elected mayor.

Levine Cava oversees the Miami-Dade Police Department, which will become the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office under Cordero-Stutz on Jan. 7.

The change doesn’t affect city police departments, which remain independent. Instead, the entire county police department will become a sheriff’s office that will fall under the control of Cordero-Stutz, with a budget and funding still approved by the County Commission.

With the next sheriff set to take over the county’s nearly $900 million law enforcement budget — with the possibility of assuming control of the county jails, too — the partisan contest between Cordero-Stutz and Reyes was the marquee local fight for Democrats and Republicans on the Miami-Dade ballot.

Both candidates are Broward residents, taking advantage of a provision in Florida law that does not require sheriff hopefuls to live in the county where they run for office. Cordero-Stutz and Reyes both said they planned to move to Miami-Dade if they won the election.

Miami-Dade police veteran

Cordero-Stutz is married and a mother of a teenage son. Her husband, Kurt Stutz, is a retired Miami-Dade officer, and they also have a retired MDPD bomb-sniffing dog, Max. She was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in New York before moving to South Florida. She has spent her law enforcement career with the Miami-Dade Police Department.

She joined the county police department 28 years ago as a patrol officer and rose through the ranks to be a senior administrator. She took a leave of absence to run for the fall campaign. Her current position as assistant director for investigative services put her in charge of the 4,500-person agency’s homicide and robbery bureaus, as well as other units dedicated to solving crimes.

Levine Cava backed Reyes and boost fundraising for his political committee, Miami-Dade Safe and Secure. Levine Cava’s Republican predecessor as mayor, Gimenez, backed Cordero-Stutz. His son, C.J. Gimenez, and daughter-in-law, Tania Cruz-Gimenez, ran Cordero Stutz’s campaign. Cruz-Gimenez served as Cordero-Stutz’s campaign manager.

Cordero-Stutz had the backing of Perez, the police director under Gimenez. Reyes had the backing of Freddy Ramirez, also a police director under Gimenez who was promoted to chief safety officer under Levine Cava. Ramirez used that position to launch his own bid for sheriff in the Democratic primary, but his campaign ended after a suicide attempt last year.

READ MORE: Freddy Ramirez ends campaign for Miami-Dade sheriff weeks after suicide attempt

Cordero-Stutz trailed in the fundraising front, raising $1.4 million for her campaign and political committee, Citizens for a Safer Community. That’s compared to the $2.1 million raised by Reyes.

But the Republican side led in turnout, with about 36% of the ballots cast by GOP voters and 33% by Democrats. The results suggest independent voters, who cast about 29% of the vote, broke heavily with Republicans in Miami-Dade.

The results marked a sea change for Miami-Dade, a county where Democrats still hold a narrow lead in registration and outperformed Republicans by 10 points in the 2020 fall election.

This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 7:45 PM.