North Miami heads to runoff for mayoral race as well as two council seats
CORRECTION: This story was updated to indicate that Hector Medina secured his place in the runoff election. The story originally reported that Florida State Rep. Daphne Campbell would proceed to the runoff.
The North Miami mayoral race will head to a runoff after no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in Tuesday night’s election.
Current mayor Alix Desulme secured his spot in the runoff with 37% of the vote. Hector Medina and former Florida State Rep. Daphne Campbell were neck and neck for the second spot. At 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, Campbell had a razor-thin lead over Medina, but Medina managed to squeeze by and secure a runoff bid. As of Wednesday, Medina led Campbell by about 32 votes according to the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections website. Challenger Naomi Blemur received 18% of the vote.
The runoff is scheduled for Dec. 3.
Tuesday’s race was the first mayoral election the city has had since 2021. The race is also primed to be historic with Medina potentially becoming the first Latino mayor in the city, which is predominately Black with a large Haitian population and growing Latino population (32%).
Along with the mayoral runoff, two council districts will have runoff elections. The outcome of the the runoff races in Districts 1 and 4 could result in an all-Haitian city council.
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Desulme was appointed mayor in 2022, after then-mayor Philippe Bien-Aime resigned to run for the Miami-Dade County District 2 commission race in 2022. Medina has run for mayor and city council in North Miami multiple times, having first run for mayor in 2017.
Whoever wins the election will have the task of finding funds to fix the city’s aging water tower, flooding in the city streets and concerns about development. Desulme’s election bid comes after criticism he and other city council members faced after moving elections from May 2022 to November 2024 to align with federal elections. Medina sued the city over the move.
Tuesday’s elections also came as residents have a growing distrust for the sitting council after it voted 3-1 to fire former city manager Rasha Cameau. At the time, outgoing commissioner Scott Galvin was the sole dissenting vote. Desulme was not present for the vote, but did not approve of Cameau’s firing.
Voters will also have to decide on the District 4 council seat in a runoff between Pierre Franz Charles and Daniel Calixte, who received 44% and 16% of the votes, respectively. Charles was appointed to the seat which was left open after Desulme became mayor.
Former North Miami mayor Kevin Burns will head to a runoff against Vanessa Pierre for the District 1 council seat. Burns and Pierre received 43% and 31% of the vote, respectively. The person who wins will replace outgoing longtime councilman Scott Galvin. If Burns wins, he will be the only non-Haitian councilmember on the city council.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 9:48 PM.
