Miami-Dade mayor hopefuls have to campaign beyond their partisan bases | Editorial
In one respect, the dust has settled from Tuesday’s primary for Miami-Dade County mayor: Alex Penelas, the former county mayor who had a commanding lead in fundraising and endorsements, came in third. County commissioners Esteban Bovo Jr. and Daniella Levine Cava, first and second respectively, survived to fight on until November’s runoff.
Already, the dust is kicking up again.
The clearest takeaway from the results is that this non-partisan position — and the race to occupy it — officially became partisan. The shift has been slowly taking place on the commission dais, where the Republicans and Democrats have recently been voting in blocs. That’s a shame. Left-wing/right-wing should not be the rigid guiding principles in tackling issues that affect how this community progresses. Fulfilling unmet needs and plotting the way forward require thoughtful give-and-take, not partisan ideology.
No ‘R’ or ‘D’ on ballot
Miami-Dade’s charter bars partisan primaries for mayor, and it’s against the law to place an R or a D next to a candidate’s name in nonpartisan races for county offices.
But they are there, nonetheless.
The conservative Bovo, son of a Bay of Pigs invasion veteran, and the progressive Levine Cava, who spent years in social work before becoming a commissioner, already were reaching out to their partisan bases in the run-up to the primary.
And that’s not going to stop.
The same is likely to happen in the District 5 commission race, where incumbent Eileen Higgins is being challenged by former School Board member Renier Diaz de la Portilla, who pushed her into a November runoff. Diaz de la Portilla believes Higgins does a poor job representing a largely Hispanic district. And the suggestion that Higgins is a leftist — even a communist — in election literature is also flying. Party affiliation and ethnicity will play a role here, too.
Woo undecideds
But while Bovo and Levine Cava can rely on their bases, the silver lining in the partisan divide is that they are going to have to work hard to bring the undecideds into their camps. The straight party talking points aren’t necessarily going to resonate, nor should they.
The mayor of Miami-Dade County is second only to Florida’s governor in wielding regional power. The county brings administers an almost $9 billion budget. The mayor will appoint department heads and establish the trajectory of the county’s future.
But the stakes are even higher this time. There will be no perfunctory handing over of the reins from current Mayor Carlos Gimenez to the new leader. No one needs to be reminded that this year has been like no other.
That means that instead of hurling tired hints of “comunista,” Bovo and Levine Cava must tell Miami-Dade — who should demand to hear it — what their post-coronavirus visions are, and how they plan to make them real, especially with several new commissioners on the dais
Instead of raising the specter of President Trump and his failed coronavirus policies, we need to hear solutions to the very real challenges: managing the coronavirus’ enduring economic damage, the prospect of unemployed workers still unable to find jobs; families left unable to find shelter they can afford, while seeking ways to help make unpaid landlords whole; businesses, small and large, hoping to get back on their feet; and, of course, protecting residents’ health — whether or not they want to take personal responsibility — should the virus continue to plague us into the new year.
There’s no doubt about who’s on the left and who’s on the right in this race. Now the candidates have to show that when it comes to offering workable solutions, they can play it down the middle.