Florida Democrats get their guy — and a primary — for winnable Miami state Senate seat

Florida Democrats eager to balance the scales of power in Republican-controlled Tallahassee maneuvered this week to finally land their favored candidate for a crucial South Florida state Senate seat and avoid a potentially costly primary.

It looks like they’ll have to settle for one out of two.

After rebuffing overtures from Senate Democrats for months, freshman state Rep. Javier Fernández told the Miami Herald Wednesday that he’s decided to run for Senate District 39, a seat the Democrats have focused on as one they can flip.

Fernández, 44, committed to run following a sit-down Tuesday night with former state Rep. Robert Asencio, who appears determined to mount his own candidacy.

“I know Robert is still mulling a run,” Fernández said in an interview. “If there’s a primary, I embrace an early start to the conversation around the seat.”

Fernández’s decision is a win for Senate Victory, the campaign arm of Senate Democrats.

The Sweetwater-to-Key West district will be vacated next year when Republican Sen. Anitere Flores leaves due to term limits, and is one of only two likely pickup opportunities for Democrats, who trail Republicans 23 to 17 in membership in the upper chamber of the Florida Legislature.

Senate Victory, under the leadership of leader designate Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, has been pursuing Fernández for months to run in the district, which went for Hillary Clinton in 2016 over President Donald Trump despite also electing Flores.

Fernández, a Cuban-American attorney, had resisted calls to run in the sprawling majority-Hispanic district but changed course after Pinecrest Councilwoman Anna Hochkammer — the lone Democrat in the race — informed supporters last week that she had a medical issue that would force her to withdraw. He told the Miami Herald that he was lured by the possibility of having more influence in the Senate than in the House, where Republicans hold a strong majority that renders Democrats largely ineffective.

“There’s no doubt that one can be more effective as a senator than in the House,” he said, noting that it could be years before Democrats are able to rebuild their numbers in the lower chamber. “The urgency of a lot of the issues we worked on [in the House], whether transportation or climate, by the time I get in a position to start to impact those issues ... that’s at best six years down the line.”

Fernández said he plans to file his paperwork as a Senate candidate within the next few days.

A contest between Fernández and Asencio — whom Fernández called “a colleague and a friend” — would be less than ideal for the minority party in Tallahassee.

Freshman Republican state Rep. Ana Maria Rodriguez, the favored Republican candidate to succeed Flores, faces her own possible primary against Angie Chirino, the daughter of Cuban pop icon Willie Chirino. But Republicans typically have more resources than Democrats, and Rodriguez was already sitting on at least $166,000 in cash-on-hand to start the month.

Democrats, meanwhile, have been calling Asencio to convince him not to open a campaign account.

But Asencio, a retired 56-year-old Miami-Dade Schools Police captain who lost a state House reelection bid in November, told the Miami Herald Tuesday that he’s committed to a campaign.

“Nothing changes,” Asencio said Wednesday. “Whoever is behind Javier Fernández just made it difficult for me, but it doesn’t mean that’s a deal-breaker.”

Neither Asencio nor Fernández have opened campaign accounts yet. But there are already early signs they are gearing up for a primary battle.

Asencio has said in interviews that he’s running because he’s from the district and committed to the community — tacit criticisms of Fernández’s need to move his family from his South Miami home in order to be eligible to become the area’s new senator (one reason Fernández had for so long resisted a campaign).

Asencio, who is Puerto Rican, has also secured endorsements from local Puerto Rican activists who signed on to a letter of support circulated over the weekend by public relations specialist Natascha Otero-Santiago. Those endorsing Asencio include Eleazar Meléndez, a Miami city commission candidate and former City Hall aide — who has known Fernández for years.

“I spent a few months in 2017 working the relief efforts for the victims of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Rep. Asencio was there with us when it mattered,” Meléndez said.

Farmer, meanwhile, was pushing Tuesday to line up every member of the Senate Democratic caucus to endorse Fernández — a signal to deep-pocketed donors, trade associations and unions that the one-time chief of staff to former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz is their favorite in the race.

“I think [Fernández] would be an outstanding candidate, but more importantly an outstanding senator,” said Sen. Annette Taddeo, a Democrat whose district is bordered on three sides by the curving District 39.

Fernández, a land-use attorney and registered lobbyist who has deep connections in both the corporate and activist worlds, proved he can raise money and win a competitive race when he won his current seat in a competitive and expensive special election last year — and then won it again in November. He has spent the last week pushing unsuccessfully for the Florida House to return to Tallahassee for a special session on guns.

But Asencio has his own base of support.

“I wish him well. He’s a good guy,” Asencio said of Fernández. “Either way, Florida wins.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 11:39 AM.