Race for Congress ‘reset’ as Mucarsel-Powell, Gimenez launch battle for FL 26

Even before Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez declared victory in the GOP primary for Florida Congressional District 26 Tuesday night, his opponent in the general election, Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, was on the attack.

Mucarsel-Powell, the incumbent who flipped the seat from Republican to Democratic two years ago, launched a digital ad accusing Gimenez and his family of profiting from his county mayor’s post. Her campaign blasted out a clip of TV anchor Michael Putney saying Gimenez’s primary win with about 60% of the vote “wasn’t impressive” and didn’t “bode well for his fight with Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.”

She followed that up on Wednesday morning with a press conference hitting his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are where we are today because of the failed leadership of the governor, of the president and Carlos Gimenez as the mayor of Miami-Dade County,” she said, during a press conference with Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Daniella Levine Cava and other Democrats. “What is he leaving as a legacy? An economic recession, a pandemic that never ends, and also families who are struggling to pay their bills.”

For Gimenez, though, it appeared to be back to the business of being mayor on Wednesday, with a late-day virtual event scheduled on the Mercedes Benz corporate run. His campaign said he had nothing public planned, and Gimenez didn’t respond to a request to comment.

His campaign had previously issued a statement Tuesday night, declaring victory.

“Today’s results have set the stage for November,” Gimenez said on Tuesday night. “The voters have a clear choice: Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, one of the most divisive members of Congress who has spent her time focused on ways to divide our community, and myself, a true public servant who has spent his career working with people of all viewpoints to find solutions to our everyday problems.”

For months, Gimenez has waged an unofficial campaign in his official capacity as mayor, a non-partisan post, doing media interviews regarding the coronavirus pandemic that boosted his name ID. A recent Republican poll showed that Gimenez had a higher name recognition than Mucarsel-Powell, who took office in 2019.

But Mucarsel-Powell has a nearly $2 million advantage in fundraising, according to the latest reports that end on July 29. She has $2.8 million to spend while Gimenez has $880,000.

And she’s trying to characterize Gimenez’s candidacy as an extension of President Donald Trump, who endorsed Gimenez when he entered the race in January. Her digital ad released Tuesday noted that Gimenez’s son, C.J. Gimenez, lobbied for Trump’s business interests in South Florida before he was president.

Michael Hernandez, a Democratic consultant who worked for Gimenez from 2014-2018 when he was mayor and later for Mucarsel-Powell’s 2018 campaign, said Gimenez will face “a challenging environment” in the 75-day general election campaign. The three-term mayor was considered by many Republicans as the best candidate to flip the seat due to his record as mayor. But the pandemic followed, with Miami-Dade emerging as the leader in new cases.

“He’s dealing with a pandemic in his last 2 1/2 months as mayor, and a significant portion of his time will go to governing and another portion of his time will go to fundraising,” Hernandez said. “Congressional races reset everything based on partisanship and while there are several folks that recognize Gimenez from his time as mayor, to date the most important part of his congressional campaign is being endorsed by Donald Trump...who now has a 40% approval rating in that district.”

And though Gimenez easily beat his GOP opponent in the primary, some Republican strategists noted he didn’t quite get 60% of the vote, a number they said he needed to reach in order to show GOP strength going into the general election. His opponent, Blanco, garnered close to 40% of the vote.

Evelio Medina, a former Hialeah city councilman and Trump supporter who backed Blanco’s campaign, said Gimenez “has to do a lot of reparations” with Trump supporters.

Medina has been critical of Gimenez’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, criticizing the mayor for his “New Normal” regulations that have shut down much of the county for COVID-19. In an interview Wednesday, he said Gimenez needs to do more to support business and win over local mayors who spent the days ahead of the primary election blasting him for what municipalities viewed as a Scrooge-like distribution of CARES Act money, after federal cornavirus relief funds went to the county instead of local municipalities.

“He’s built a lot of animosity by going it alone,” Medina said. “First thing I’d do if I were him is to go have lunch with Omar, who did well.”

Asked if he’ll support Gimenez, Blanco said Tuesday night “that’s something we’ll have to look at.”

Hernandez noted that Blanco essentially campaigned full-time throughout the summer while Gimenez focused on the pandemic.

“I think the surprise for some was Blanco hitting 40% but I’m not as surprised at that because Blanco worked hard,” Hernandez said.

But Florida’s 26th Congressional District, which stretches from Key West to Kendall, is still considered more competitive than many districts where Trump lost by double digits in 2016. Mucarsel-Powell is one of only two Democratic incumbents representing House districts that Trump lost by double digits in 2016 to have her election rated as a “toss up” by the Cook Political Report, which tracks House races across the country.

Mucarsel-Powell said the district is “incredibly diverse” with a high number of independent voters when asked why the seat is considered competitive in 2020.

“That’s why you see this district go back and forth,” Mucarsel-Powell said, referring to the district changing party hands in 2014 and 2018.

Mucarsel-Powell said her campaign will focus on the same three issues that helped her win in 2018: changing gun control laws, protecting the Affordable Care Act and the environment. She said the Democratic-controlled House has acted on all three of her priorities, though the Republican-controlled Senate hasn’t acted on a House-passed background check bill, bills to expand the ACA and environmental legislation like a permanent ban on offshore drilling.

“I have fulfilled every promise and I’m just getting started,” Mucarsel-Powell said. “I feel like this next term, once we contain this pandemic, that I’ll be able to focus on all the other things that my community needs.”

Despite the largely silent rollout from Gimenez, the next 75 days will likely contain millions in TV ads from both sides and attacks that could propel Gimenez’s campaign.

But Hernandez said it will be difficult for Gimenez to launch specific attacks on Mucarsel-Powell’s voting record, like Mucarsel-Powell did when she campaigned on former Rep. Carlos Curbelo’s vote to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

“I don’t believe you can look at Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and say she’s out of lockstep with the district,” Hernandez said. “That could be the general theme that Gimenez and his folks put out there but they have to be much more precise to hit her.”

He’ll only have about 40 days to do it before voters begin casting ballots. Mail-in ballots will be sent to voters between September 24 and October 1.

Miami Herald staff writers David Smiley and Erin Doherty contributed to this report.

This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 5:28 PM.