Taddeo recommits to governor’s race as ‘rumors’ of congressional bid scramble Democrats
Days after announcing plans to run for a South Florida U.S. House seat, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins said Wednesday that she’s dropping her bid for Congress to unite behind Miami Sen. Annette Taddeo — a gubernatorial candidate whose campaign insists she isn’t switching races.
In a statement, Higgins said that while she was “excited” to announce a campaign for Congress this month, she learned in “the last day” that Taddeo will run for Florida’s Congressional District 27. Higgins, a Democrat who said she wants to back a “strong leader like Senator Taddeo rather than force an unnecessary primary,” had only filed paperwork to run for Congress on Monday.
“Because I believe having a unified front is critical in taking this seat back, I have decided it’s best to continue my service on the Miami-Dade County Commission as we have many important issues to tackle,” Higgins said in the statement, which was sent to the Herald by her campaign consultant, Christian Ulvert.
Ulvert previously worked with Taddeo on her gubernatorial campaign, as well as her successful campaigns for Florida Senate.
Except Taddeo, who is running in the Democratic primary for Florida governor, has not announced plans to drop her gubernatorial race. She did not immediately return a request for comment. But earlier Wednesday, before Higgins announced her latest move, Taddeo’s campaign manager Nick Merlino told the Herald that she was staying in the race for governor, citing upcoming campaign trips to Orlando and Puerto Rico.
In a tweet on Wednesday afternoon, Merlino again denied she was dropping her bid for governor by saying Taddeo “will be the first Latina Governor in Florida history. Full stop.” Merlino said he posted the tweet in response to “rumors.”
Higgins did not immediately respond to questions from the Herald about her decision to end her campaign.
Higgins dropping out of the race means that U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican representing Florida’s 27th congressional district, is currently being challenged by Miami Commissioner Ken Russell and Angel Montalvo, a self-described “unapologetically progressive ” candidate who has pledged to run a completely “grassroots campaign.”
Candidates have until June 17 to qualify to make the Aug. 23 primary ballot.
Russell, who dropped out of the Democratic primary for Florida’s U.S. Senate race in favor of running in District 27, told the Miami Herald that anything that takes Democrats’ energy away from mounting a successful campaign against Salazar is a “distraction.” He said he hadn’t spoken with Taddeo.
“I don’t want to start a fight within my party,” he said. “If there’s a primary, we face it as a democracy.”
Democrats’ game of musical chairs was instantly celebrated by the Republican National Committee, whose spokesperson Julia Friedland said in a statement “it only took Florida Democrat Eileen Higgins 6 days to realize she didn’t stand a chance against” Salazar.
Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas contributed to this story.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 5:45 PM.
