He lost his last three campaigns. Now he’s the next Miami commissioner in District 1

A candidate once relegated to political obscurity has been resurrected after voters in one of Miami’s most working-class districts chose Alex Diaz de la Portilla to represent them in City Hall.

The former state senator won Tuesday’s runoff election with 60% of the vote, besting Miguel Angel Gabela, a Jaguar auto parts retailer who’s run for the District 1 seat three times. Diaz de la Portilla is himself a frequent candidate, having lost three previous races — two bids for a seat in the Florida Legislature and one campaign for Miami-Dade County Commission.

The two men ran to represent one of Miami’s most diverse areas. District 1 stretches from the Health District around Jackson Memorial Hospital to Flagami, with Allapattah and Grapeland Heights in between. The outgoing commissioner, Wifredo “Willy” Gort, is term-limited this year.

In a race that had seven candidates, Diaz de la Portilla won the most votes on Nov. 5, but not enough to win the election outright. With a roughly 20 point lead on Gabela in the general election, Diaz de la Portilla won by the same margin in the runoff.

Gabela did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.

Coming from a well-known Cuban-American political family, Diaz de la Portilla’s name might have resonated with a base of support that voted for him in his most recent loss, when he failed to make a runoff in a 2018 special election to fill a County Commission seat left vacant by Bruno Barreiro. The part of the county district that went in Diaz de la Portilla’s favor was in District 1. It turned out be a bellwether for the longtime politician’s campaign this year.

The former Tallahassee lawmaker has said he wants to steer more state dollars to Miami projects, advocate for creation of a local housing authority and pressure real estate developers to provide larger public benefit packages when they seek additional zoning rights. He has pledged to steer impact fees toward improving the district’s public parks, and he aims to discourage a parochial approach to debating city issues with the other four commissioners who represent a wide range of neighborhoods and demographics. For District 1, he plans on opening a district office so constituents can easily meet him close to where they live.

Tuesday night, he celebrated his political resurrection at Casa de los de Santa Marta de Ortigueira, an event hall near the north bank of the Miami River, where he thanked his family and a cramped room of supporters for backing him. The audience included all of his soon-to-be colleagues, including Joe Carollo, Keon Hardemon, Manolo Reyes, Ken Russell and Mayor Francis Suarez. After arriving at the venue with Carollo, Diaz de la Portilla took the stage as Queen’s “We Are The Champions,” blasted from loudspeakers.

“I’m back!” he said, whipping the crowd into cheers.

Thanking individual family members and friends, Diaz de la Portilla specifically named Carollo, a “personal friend” who worked on his campaign since it began in January, and Suarez, who endorsed the candidate after the Nov. 5 election.

He promised to pay special attention to the least privileged of District 1’s residents when he takes office.

“I am very grateful for your support, for your vote of confidence that you gave today,” he said. “I’m very, very appreciative. I work very hard in the state Senate to fight for the little guy, for the people who don’t have a voice in government. I’m going to do the same thing on the City Commission. I’m going to work as a team with other city commissioners to move Miami forward.”

Diaz de la Portilla, 55, last held elected office in 2010, when he left the Florida Senate due to term limits. His public life has been peppered with controversy, most of which he’s dismissed as false smears from political opponents or private matters that have no bearing on his ability to govern. As recently as Election Day, he disputed county elections officials’ account that he had improperly entered a voting precinct and was asked to leave, saying any allegations against him were “lies.”

Even in the years when he had no vote on an elected body, Diaz de la Portilla was steeped in politics. He worked as a consultant on multiple campaigns, including the election of Carollo, a former Miami mayor who returned to Miami City Hall in 2017 after a 16-year absence. Diaz de la Portilla also worked on his brother Miguel’s failed state senate run in 2016.

Suarez told the Miami Herald he hopes Diaz de la Portilla will bring civility and decorum to the City Commission, which has become known for drawn-out meetings and tense exchanges between commissioners laced with personal jabs. Suarez also noted Diaz de la Portilla’s long career in politics — 16 years in the Florida Legislature, including a decade in the Senate.

“I just found him to be the one that has the most experience,” Suarez told the Miami Herald. “He’s articulate. He understands government. He understands the city.”

Suarez also solicited campaign contributions for Diaz de la Portilla in the last week. The flow of dollars from moneyed interests across the city in November showed Diaz de la Portilla maintained a wide lead in fundraising he’d had all year. Dollars from lobbyists, real estate developers and construction companies made his campaign account swell by $339,700 in the first half of November, pushing his total to $820,800. A political committee for Diaz de la Portilla raised another $204,500 in October alone. All told, Diaz de la Portilla’s campaign raised more than $1 million.

New friction could be on the horizon. Commissioner Ken Russell, who serves as the chairman and handily won reelection this month, gave one of Diaz de la Portilla’s opponents $150,000 during the campaign — a move Diaz de la Portilla criticized as unnecessary involvement by a potential colleague. Now, the two will sit on the same dais.

On Tuesday night, all of Diaz de la Portilla’s future colleagues were present to congratulate him and pose for pictures.

“It’s great that we’re all here,” he said. “It’s a sign of optimism for teamwork.”

Diaz de la Portilla echoed Russell when he told the Herald he discussed affordable housing issues with Russell before the runoff, an area where both politicians — and the whole commission — have common challenges.

“There’s a time to campaign, and there’s a time to govern,” Diaz de la Portilla said. “Now, it’s time to govern.”

Another major issue that will land on Diaz de la Portilla’s desk: The proposed redevelopment of Melreese golf course into a sprawling $1 billion commercial complex with a 25,000-seat soccer stadium and public park. The campus, called Miami Freedom Park, would host home games for David Beckham’s Major League Soccer franchise Inter Miami.

Melreese is in District 1. The city is negotiating a no-bid 99-year lease for the redevelopment plan, which requires approval from four of five commissioners. Gort, Diaz de la Portilla’s predecessor, was a vocal critic of the concept. Reyes has maintained he is a staunch no vote.

Diaz de la Portilla has said he wishes the process leading up to a lease would have been different, with a competitive solicitation for proposals, but with a 2018 referendum authorizing the city to negotiate the lease only with the soccer group, the newly elected commissioner said he would only vote for a deal that would benefit residents.

“I have questions,” he said Tuesday night. “What is the true value of the land? What is the cost of environmental cleanup? What will be the traffic impact on adjacent streets?

Results with all precincts reporting

Alex Diaz de la Portilla: 60.79%; 2,784 votes

Miguel Gabela: 39.21%; 1,796 votes

This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 7:48 PM.

Joey Flechas

Miami Herald

305-376-3602

Joey Flechas is an associate editor and enterprise reporter for the Herald. He previously covered government and public affairs in the city of Miami. He was part of the team that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the collapse of a residential condo building in Surfside, FL. He won a Sunshine State award for revealing a Miami Beach political candidate’s ties to an illegal campaign donation. He graduated from the University of Florida. He joined the Herald in 2013.