Parents of FIU bridge collapse victim ask Democrats to remove footage in TV ad

The parents of a student who was killed in the collapse of a Florida International University pedestrian bridge in 2018 are asking the Democratic Party to take down footage of the disaster in a TV ad that attacks Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Orlando and Gina Duran, whose 18-year-old daughter, Alexa Duran, was one of six victims of the bridge collapse, say they want the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to remove a five-second video clip of the bridge collapse from the ad.

The DCCC, a national organization that seeks to elect Democrats to the House of Representatives, launched the ad in English on Sept. 22 and in Spanish on Sept. 24, part of an effort to brand Gimenez, a Republican who is running for Congress against Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, as “corrupt.”

Orlando Duran said in an interview that viewing footage of the collapse on television upset him and his family. He shared a copy of a letter he plans to send to the DCCC on Thursday with the Miami Herald.

“This is my problem: it is being used for political purposes,” said Duran, whose daughter was an FIU student. “I don’t have anything in favor or against Carlos Gimenez. I don’t know what his agenda is nor do I care. Nor do I care about the position of the Democratic campaign. This is totally non-political. I want the video out of the ad.”

The DCCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ad claims that Gimenez’s family “managed the company that built the fatal FIU bridge,” and says Gimenez “tried to push” the construction company, MCM, for a county contract after the bridge collapse.

Gimenez’s sons, C.J. and Julio Gimenez, previously worked for MCM but were not working for the company at the time of the bridge collapse. The county contract was an extension of an existing contract for airport construction work that was recommended by Gimenez and approved by the county commission. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the bridge’s “catastrophic failure” stemmed from a flawed design with “significant errors” and determined that all major parties in the project, including FIU, the Florida Department of Transportation and the engineers and contractors involved, deserved blame.

Duran isn’t calling for the entire ad to be taken off the air but wants footage of the collapse of the pedestrian bridge across Southwest Eighth Street removed.

“The video, I think that is problematic — not only for us but for all the victims of the tragedy,” he said.

Duran said he hasn’t talked to other victims’ families about the ad. Duran and his family live in Hialeah, which is not in Florida’s 26th Congressional District, where Gimenez and Mucarsel-Powell are running.

“I find your ad distasteful and hurtful for us and the families of the victims of this tragedy, as we are trying to leave this painful chapter behind,” Orlando and Gina Duran wrote in the letter they plan to send to the DCCC. “We are not in favor or against...Carlos Gimenez nor in favor or against the Democratic campaign. Our position is entirely apolitical.”

The DCCC has spent $4.9 million on the race between Gimenez and Mucarsel-Powell as of October 7, making the group the largest single spender in the entire campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. The election is predicted to be tight, and both parties are spending millions of dollars on TV ads.

This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 8:37 PM.