First-time candidate Daniela Jean wins runoff for North Miami Beach commission seat
Daniela Jean, a 34-year-old government employee seeking political office for the first time, defeated Margaret “Margie” Love on Tuesday in a runoff for a city commission seat in North Miami Beach.
Jean received about 59% of the vote to Love’s 41%, according to results posted by the Miami-Dade Elections Department shortly after 9 p.m. Voter turnout was 11.4% with 2,770 votes cast.
Jean, an administrative coordinator in North Miami’s risk management division, will replace Phyllis Smith, who is termed out after almost 14 years on the commission.
Love, 68, was running for North Miami Beach commission for a fifth time. Her previous runs were also unsuccessful.
Jean will become the city’s only new commissioner when she is sworn in later this month. Mayor Anthony DeFillipo and Commissioners Michael Joseph and McKenzie Fleurimond each defeated a challenger Nov. 3 to stay in office.
Jean finished first in the Nov. 3 general election with about 34% of the votes in a six-person field. Love finished second with 19%. The race went to a runoff because no candidate received a majority of the votes.
During her campaign, Jean touted her status as a millennial and told the Miami Herald in an interview last week that she is a “born leader” and a “problem solver.” She teaches American Sign Language to school-age kids and authored a self-help e-book, called “5Gs of Success.”
“I’m a millennial, I’m innovative, I’m a leader,” she said.
Jean has declined to speak publicly about how she would have handled two critical recent decisions by the city commission: one to terminate a contract for private operation of the city’s water utility, and another to approve a $1.5 billion redevelopment of the Intracoastal Mall.
Instead, she said she prefers to look forward and ensure residents will benefit from those changes.
Jean will become the fourth Haitian-American commissioner on the seven-person panel, along with Joseph, Fleurimond and Paule Villard. Fleurimond and Villard publicly touted their support for Jean, while the commission’s four white elected officials campaigned for Love.
About 20% of the North Miami Beach population is Haitian American, according to U.S. Census data. The city in northeast Miami-Dade County “is a true melting pot,” Jean told the Herald last week. “That’s what I want to focus on: serving my community as a whole.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 9:33 PM.
