Miami-Dade mayor could face a recall vote — if enough voters sign petitions

A recall effort against Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava officially began Wednesday when a court clerk accepted the required paperwork to start the petition process.

Led by one of Levine Cava’s opponents in the 2024 election, the petition drive needs nearly 66,000 voter signatures by May 14 to trigger the kind of recall election that ousted then-Mayor Carlos Alvarez in 2011.

That means the recall effort led by Alex Otaola, the bombastic Spanish-language YouTube host, needs about 550 signatures per day to stay on pace to meet the deadline in four months. Otaola was one of the Republican challengers in 2024 on the ballot against Levine Cava, who won reelection with 58% of the vote that August.

In a statement released late Wednesday , Otaola criticized Levine Cava on spending, the condition of county-owned Miami International Airport and other alleged failings since she won her first term in 2020. “This recall is a civic responsibility to restore a government that listens to its people,” he said.

Levine Cava called the recall effort “a political sideshow.”

“Miami-Dade residents from every corner of our community have overwhelmingly entrusted me as their mayor to lead and deliver results, and that’s exactly what I will continue to do,” she said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the county’s elected clerk, Juan Fernandez-Barquin, wrote in a letter to Otaola that the paperwork for the recall petition drive had been approved and that the 120-day window for gathering the needed signatures would begin that day. Fernandez-Barquin had rejected Otaola’s paperwork in December for not adhering to county rules.

Miami-Dade’s charter allows a registered voter to launch a recall petition drive against elected county office holders, with the actual recall election triggered if at least 4% of Miami-Dade’s 1.6 million registered voters sign the petition. Those petitions may only be circulated by registered voters.

This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 7:30 PM.