Miami’s District 2 election field is down to 13 as two candidates fall off the ballot
Two of 15 original candidates will not be on the ballot in the Feb. 27 special election to fill the District 2 seat on the Miami City Commission.
Renita Ross Samuels-Dixon, former Coconut Grove Village Council member, withdrew from the race Jan. 18. Alicia Kossick, proprietor of the Polished Coconut store, did not qualify after a review of her voter registration.
After the qualifying deadline passed on Jan. 13, the city filed suit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court to bar Kossick from running after a review found her current voting precinct is located in Coral Gables, and her drivers license lists a Gables address. Even though she moved to an address in the city of Miami more than a year ago and her voter registration was updated, it appears the discrepancy with her drivers license led to her voter registration being changed back to the Gables address. On Friday, Circuit Judge Carlos Guzman ruled Kossick could not be included on the ballot.
Read more: Miami has a special election. Here are District 2 candidates talking about issues
The remaining 13 candidates are:
▪ Sabina Covo, former television journalist and director of Hispanic media relations for Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
▪ Michael Goggins, wealth management professional.
▪ Javier Gonzalez, real estate agent and previous District 2 candidate in 2019.
▪ Lior Halabi, digital marketing professional.
▪ Eddy Leal, attorney on Miami mayor’s staff who has taken a leave of absence to run.
▪ Max Martinez, founder and creative director of marketing agency Maxfuture and a former mayoral candidate in 2021.
▪ Lorenzo Palomares, attorney at Palomares-Starbuck and Associates.
▪ June Savage, real estate agent and Miami Beach mayoral candidate in 2017.
▪ Kathy Parks Suarez, auto dealer.
▪ Christi Tasker, business and marketing consultant
▪ James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance.
▪ Mario Vuksanovic, a former homeless outreach worker for the city.
▪ Martin Zilber, a former Miami-Dade judge who resigned from the bench in May 2021 amid allegations of misconduct. A state judicial committee investigation was dropped when he resigned. A 2022 Florida Bar inquiry found no probable cause to sanction Zilber.
This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 1:31 PM.
