It’s a 3-way race for Homestead mayor on Oct. 5. Council seats are up for grabs, too.
The deadline to make the ballot in Homestead’s municipal election passed Friday, marking the beginning of a month-long contest in which candidates will campaign to win seats for mayor and city council.
According to the most recently updated list of qualified candidates on the city clerk’s website, updated Friday, Mayor Steven Losner is facing challenges from former Mayor Jeffrey Porter and former Councilman Elvis Maldonado. The mayor serves a two-year term.
Losner and Porter faced off in the 2019 runoff election for mayor, in which Losner bested Porter by just 361 votes. Maldonado recently lost out on a county commission seat to Kionne McGhee.
Porter, 61, is a Homestead native who resigned as mayor in 2018 to run as a Democrat in an ultimately unsuccessful statewide bid for Florida agriculture commissioner. Losner, 60, served on the city council from 2001 to 2007. He first ran for mayor in 2011, and lost to Steven Bateman, who was later befouled by corruption charges after he helped build a clinic in downtown Homestead while still on the company’s payroll.
Maldonado, 48, is a 10-year veteran of the Homestead city council and an information-technology consultant.
A candidate must earn more than 50% of the vote to win an election outright in Homestead’s Oct. 5 primary, according to a handout the city provides to candidates. Otherwise, the two candidates who receive the most votes in any race will move on to a runoff on Nov. 2.
Council races set, and one already determined
In the race for Homestead’s Seat One position, which represents the city’s northwest section, no election will be needed to determine the winner. Julio Guzman was automatically elected when he was the only candidate to make the ballot. Guzman, a 45-year-old real estate broker, is a former councilman who served a nine-month vacancy in 2019.
In the race for Seat Five, Councilwoman Erica Ávila, 37, will run to keep her spot, to which she was appointed in 2020 to fill a vacancy. She’ll face a challenge from Planning and Zoning Board Vice Chairman Bradley Compton, 42, to represent the district, which includes Homestead’s Waterstone and Malibu Bay communities. Compton, a consultant-turned-middle school math teacher, is supporting Losner for mayor. Maycol Enriquez also qualified to run in the race.
Meanwhile, Councilwoman Jenifer Bailey drew a challenge for her Seat Four position from Valnecia “Val” Brown just before the deadline. Bailey is the director of Smart Start of Homestead, a church-based preschool. Her seat represents Homestead’s southwest region.
The deadline to register to vote in the primary is Tuesday, Sept. 7.
Early voting will take place Thursday, Sept. 30, Friday, Oct. 1, and Saturday, Oct. 2.
The deadline to register to vote for the runoff is the day before the election, on Oct. 4.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 7:01 PM.