Donald J. Trump Avenue is one vote away from joining the Miami-Dade County road map

President-elect Donald Trump won Miami-Dade County in a landslide, but will that be enough to get a street named after him?

Hialeah wants Miami-Dade to recognize the city’s creation of President Donald J. Trump Avenue, a request that’s on the County Commission’s Dec. 3 agenda. The item would force Democrats on the County Commission, which is officially nonpartisan, to decide whether to support honoring the incoming Republican president.

READ MORE: Hialeah City Council members vote unanimously to name road after Donald Trump

Democrats hold seven of the 13 commission seats, but Trump won 10 of the commission districts in November on his way to an overall victory in Miami-Dade. After losing Miami-Dade in 2016 and 2020, Trump last month became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the former Democratic stronghold since George H.W. Bush in 1988. He beat Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 points, taking 55% of the vote in Miami-Dade.

“I think President Trump is very worthy of this honor as our 45th and 47th president,” said the item’s sponsor, Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, a Republican. “I think our community clearly has overwhelming support for him based on the results of this last November.”

Hialeah city commissioners voted last year to turn Palm Avenue into President Donald J. Trump Avenue, a change that would let City Hall add the incoming president’s name to letterhead.

“All of our correspondence will have 501 President Donald J. Trump Avenue,” Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo said, referring to City Hall’s longtime address of 501 Palm Ave.

Bovo said he doesn’t want to remove Palm Avenue from city geography and that the portion already named Veterans Way would not be replaced by the Trump tribute. Instead, he said he’s planning for the Trump Avenue signs to go up as new additions on the thoroughfare and become the preferred name for city government.

Naming roadways after political figures isn’t new in Miami-Dade. In 2016, the County Commission approved a request by Miami Gardens to recognize part of the city’s Northwest 185th Terrace as President Barack and Michelle Obama Boulevard. Sharing room on the Dec. 3 agenda with the Trump naming proposal is another Miami Gardens request to honor a Democratic office holder by adding Rep. Frederica Wilson’s name to Northwest 47th Avenue. Because Florida controls that avenue, the legislation calls for Miami-Dade to join Miami Gardens in lobbying Florida to honor Wilson.

When the requests go to Miami-Dade, they’re officially “co-designations,” meaning the Trump, Wilson and Obama names are added to existing street names in the county’s register of roadways rather than replacing them.

For Trump, the novelty will likely come in the paperwork.

A 2019 rule change by the County Commission requires background reports for any would-be honoree, setting up the possibility of commission auditors detailing Trump’s May conviction in New York related to hush-money allegations, as well as two federal cases against him, including one tied to President-elect Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election and prevent Joe Biden from taking office.

Federal prosecutors said Monday that case is being dropped as Trump prepares to take office, while a judge had previously dismissed a Trump case alleging mishandling of classified documents.

While renaming county-maintained roads after living federal officials requires a two-thirds vote, approving a request for a city-maintained road only needs majority support on the County Commission.

Should the vote break down on party lines, Republicans would need one Democrat to back Trump Avenue. But that assumes a roll call even takes place. If no commissioner requests a separate vote, the Cabrera proposal would just be approved en masse with the other non-contested items on the Dec. 3 agenda.

That could let Democrats on the commission avoid a vote dedicated solely to the effusive Trump language in the legislation by Cabrera, a one-time lobbyist who launched his political career in 2022 with a Trump endorsement in that year’s District 6 commission race and now is hoping for a position in the second Trump administration.

Among the words of Trump praise in the Cabrera legislation: “the United States thrived under President Trump’s leadership” and “President Trump also worked to restore democracy and the rule of law around the world.”

Cabrera said he plans to vote for the Rep. Wilson street naming and would also support adding President Joe Biden’s name to a local roadway if a Miami-Dade municipality requested it. “I think municipalities should have wide latitude for who they name streets after,” he said.

To put Trump’s name prominently on signs hanging off of traffic lights and other county infrastructure, Hialeah needs Miami-Dade approval. The city held off requesting that until now, Cabrera said, a delay that may make the politics easier.

Along with Trump winning the election, control over the County Commission’s agenda recently shifted to a Republican, with Commissioner Anthony Rodriguez, a Trump supporter, taking over from Democrat Oliver Gilbert, a Harris supporter, as board chair.

Gilbert and the other six Democrats on the commission did not respond to requests for comment Monday on the Trump Avenue proposal. Neither did a spokesperson for the county’s Democratic mayor, Daniella Levine Cava.

Miami Herald staff writer Verónica Egui Brito contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 25, 2024 at 4:17 PM.