‘Open up!’ Trump supporters boo Miami-Dade’s Carlos Gimenez days before election

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez was booed by thousands of Trump supporters at a MAGA rally Sunday night that violated the county’s social distancing and mask rules for COVID-19 and continued well past a Gimenez-mandated midnight curfew.

And when President Donald Trump mentioned Gimenez’s name during his speech that stretched into the early morning, he didn’t pronounce it right — the second time that has happened in three months — and it prompted more booing.

The rally, held at the Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport, came less than 48 hours before Gimenez faces voters in Florida’s most competitive congressional race, where he’s running with Trump’s endorsement in his race against incumbent Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

Gimenez’s role at the rally was to help hype up the Trump supporters, a mostly maskless crowd that later broke into a “Fire Fauci!” chant, referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases.

“I want to make sure that we give President Trump a great welcome when he comes here and this is the launching point to his reelection,” Gimenez said, stopping for mid-sentence pauses that were filled by jeers. “We do not want socialism. We don’t want our healthcare taken away.”

“Vote him out,” some chanted. “Open up!” was the refrain from others.

When Trump finally took the stage several hours later, he listed many elected officials at the event. Then he got to Gimenez.

“I’ve known him for a long time, he’s terrific. He’s up in the polls. Where is he? Carlos Gimenez,” Trump said, as the crowd responded with a mix of boos and cheers.

But he pronunced it as “JIM-eh-nez” instead of “he-MEN-ez,” repeating a mispronunciation from a September event in Palm Beach County.

Trump quickly moved on to mention current Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Steve Bovo, and the crowd hoisted their signs and cheered loudly.

“Hey you’re a popular guy, Steve,” Trump said as the crowd began chanting, “Bo-vo, Bo-vo.”

The pro-Trump crowd’s hostile reception to Gimenez is evidence of the COVID-related tightrope the mayor has been walking as he tries to balance a partisan congressional campaign against the need to close businesses and impose curfews to cut virus transmission, moves that aren’t popular with many hardcore Trump supporters.

In his official capacity, Gimenez has regular calls with Fauci and other COVID experts, who warn that another surge is likely around Thanksgiving, when families may still gather in large groups. The position has given Gimenez power and name recognition that most candidates challenging an incumbent congresswoman can only dream of.

But in his political capacity, Gimenez is surrounded by voters who bristle at COVID-related restrictions and are demanding Fauci’s ouster.

“Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait until a little bit after the election,” Trump said when the crowd broke out in a “fire Fauci” chant. “I appreciate the advice.”

Gimenez’s campaign did not respond when asked what he thought about the booing or if he thinks Fauci should be fired.

Florida Federation of Young Republicans chair Jessica Fernandez, who attended the rally Sunday night, said she thought the boos toward Gimenez were “a little unfair.”

“I think people just want to get back to normal, but the mayor has done a great job with unfortunate circumstances,” Fernandez said at a Trump campaign event featuring Lara Trump in Miami on Monday. “He is listening to advisors. He has taken a leadership role. Leadership has consequences.”

Just four months ago, during the height of demonstrations to protest the death of George Floyd, Gimenez warned that gathering thousands of people without masks posed a public health threat to the entire community.

“We had thousands of young people together, outside, a lot of them not wearing masks, and we know that when you do that, and you are talking and you are chanting, et cetera, that really spreads the virus,” Gimenez said on CBS News’ “Face The Nation.”

In October, he said the county was still issuing citations for not wearing masks and encouraged people to wear masks outside.

But on Sunday, Gimenez, the face of Miami-Dade County’s COVID response, spoke at the very type of event he once declared a public health threat.

Mucarsel-Powell’s campaign said the booing is an indication that “despite his best efforts to cozy up to Trump, Gimenez has failed to win over the president’s supporters.”

Gimenez will need to keep Republican voters in Florida’s 26th Congressional District in his column if he wants to win on Tuesday. If many hardcore Trump supporters choose to leave their congressional ballot blank, his chances of victory — which rely on a coalition of Republican, independent and some Democratic votes — diminish in a district where Democrats have a numerical advantage.

“All [Mucarsel-Powell] needs is for Republicans to just not vote for that race,” said Mike Hernandez, a Democratic strategist who once worked for Gimenez’s mayoral office and for Mucarsel-Powell’s 2018 campaign.

On Monday morning, the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, a national elections handicapper, moved Mucarsel-Powell and Gimenez’s race to “leans Democratic” in its final ratings of the cycle despite moving Florida as a whole to “leans Republican” in favor of Trump.

Miami Herald reporters Samantha J. Gross, David Smiley and Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 2:31 PM.