Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert is running to succeed Frederica Wilson
Miami-Dade County Commissioner and former Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert has filed to run for Congress to succeed Rep. Frederica Wilson after her 15-year run holding the seat.
She announced her resignation last week, prompting a wave of prospective candidates into one of the rare safe Democratic federal seats in South Florida without an incumbent in the race.
Gilbert filed his candidacy for the 24th District to the Federal Election Commission Thursday, after announcing his resignation from the county commission last week.
“I grew up here. I went to school here. I served here. And every step of that journey is the reason I’m running,” Gilbert wrote in a statement Thursday.
Former state Sen. Shevrin Jones and Rudolph Moise have also entered the race, joining Christine Alexandria Sanon-Jules.
Gilbert is entering the race with a financial edge: his political fundraising committee Common Voices has more than $1 million in the bank to spend in a short primary cycle. Florida’s primary election is Aug. 18.
In 2020, Gilbert was mayor of Miami Gardens when he found himself running against the national Democratic Party establishment in his race for County Commission. His opponent was Sybrina Fulton, the mother of slain teenager Trayvon Martin and a national advocate for social justice.
In a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1, Fulton won the endorsements of party celebrities – including Hillary Clinton, U.S. senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren. But on Election Day, Gilbert narrowly beat Fulton. Four years later, he won reelection without opposition.
He’s making his formal public campaign announcement Sunday morning at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miami Gardens.
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