My campaign is one of vision and integrity, not one of spreading fear | Opinion

The campaign for Miami-Dade mayor must remain focused on the job at hand, solving the challenges that are in front of us and laying out a clear vision of how we win the future.

I am committed to the work ahead, and how we’re going to lift Miami-Dade out of this crisis. I’m proud to have support from across the political spectrum, and as mayor, I would work to represent everyone in our county, regardless of party affiliation and background.

During these next two and half months, I will continue to share my vision for a better future for everyone in Miami-Dade. Voters will continue to hear policy proposals and an agenda on how we get ahead of our economic and health crises, and the tools we must deploy to truly address disparity in our community. During the past six months, that has been my focus on the campaign trail, and it will continue to be in the coming weeks as voters head to the polls again for the Nov. 3 general election.

The top priority must be getting our county to emerge from these challenging times. One of my first acts as mayor will be to appoint a chief medical officer, who can help us beat back the virus using facts and science. This way, we can protect our health and also help small businesses and families struggling to get back on their feet.

Our economy depends on small businesses, and the current administration has not kept its end of the bargain: It asked small businesses to adapt to all kinds of regulations, but failed to enact aggressive health measures to control the spread of the coronavirus. My priority will be making sure that we can build back our economy and small businesses, while staying safe and healthy.

My sincere hope, too, is that my opponent will suspend his campaign tactics we saw in the first round that attacked by name our County Commission colleagues to spread fear and score a few more votes. He tried to brand me as someone I’m clearly not, and he did the same to our former Mayor Alex Penelas. We are better than that as a community, and our campaigns must stick to the policy proposals, as they are vastly different.

I’ve been a fierce advocate for our residents for the past 40 years, leading large and small organizations and creating from the ground up prominent nonprofits such as Catalyst Miami to deliver opportunity and solutions for residents in our county.

I am excited and hopeful for our future, because my campaign will continue to be guided by three defining words: vision, integrity and results.

Daniella Levine Cava is a Miami-Dade County commissioner and a candidate for county mayor.