After what they called a huge victory with the successful campaign for newly-elected Homestead Mayor Jeff Porter, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party will divert its efforts to another race several miles away: The Miami Beach commission race in Group 1.
The Dade Dems, who stayed out of the heated mayoral race because every single candidate was a Democrat, now want to help Micky Steinberg, wife of former Democratic State Rep. Richard Steinberg, in her bid for commission. Tuesday’s race for the open seat left Steinberg in a runoff with Elsa Urquiza, who is apparently the only Republican running in the heavily blue Beach.
And that is exactly why they are focusing on this one race: Steinberg is the only Dem facing a Republican.
“Her values stand in stark contrast to those of Republican Elsa Urquiza. We have had enough of Republicans running our governments at the national, state or local level,” wrote Dade Dems Chairwoman Annette Taddeo in an emailed endorsement Friday, following a post in which I indicated they will get more involved in non partisan, municipal elections.
“She will be a fresh voice in City Hall, someone who is not tied to lobbyists or special interests,” Taddeo said.
And that’s where she has Ladra. I have nothing against Urquiza personally — except maybe her chumminess with Hialeah hoodlums, er, I mean Councilman Luis Gonzalez and State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez. Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres. And I sorta wish she hadn’t aligned herself with lobbyist David Custin, her campaign consultant (by the way, Ms. Urquiza, $3,150 for “web design” is on the expensive side), and mayor elect Philip Levine, because she had the support of real Beach stakeholders like the police officers and the independent chops, especially in the city’s Hispanic community, without these Johnny Come Latelies.
Now, Urquiza just seems like she’s willing to be somebody’s puppet. And Steinberg — whose chops, despite sitting on several boards, are really about being a Tallahassee spouse — seems more independent.
“She has quite a future,” Taddeo said. “She’s very impressive.”
She also seems like a pretty sure thing, not only because she got 38 percent to Urquiza’s 
32 — leaving activist and realtor Sherry Roberts, dogged by residency questions that she couldn’t really shake, out in third with 26 percent. No, it’s really because of where Steinberg got those votes and what that could spell for round two.
Steinberg beat Urquiza in every campaign — absentee ballots, early voting and election day. But Urquiza could almost keep pace in ABs, where she was only 11 votes behind, and early voting, where she trailed by 67. Both seemed close in comparison to election day scale, where Steinberg blew by Urquiza with almost a 500-vote lead.
No word yet if the Republican party is going to help Urquiza. But seeing as how she has Custin on her side, and he has ties to some heavyweight GOPpers like Gonzalez, the Miami-Dade Delegation chair photographed here at Urquiza’s campaign kickoff, and State Rep. Jose Oliva (R-Miami Lakes), who has been magically slated to be Speaker of the House in 2018.
Maybe the party support has been there all along.
According to campaign reports, Urquiza’s contributions — which total more than $81,000, though she has loaned herself about half — include gifts like $500 from Protecting Leadership Principles, Rep. Gonzalez’s PAC, at least $2,000 in bundled contributions from former Hialeah Councilman Herman Echevarria and $250 from Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo, an uber Republican who aims to take the Congressional seat from Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia next year.
So at least one race in the Miami Beach elections, where former President Bill Clinton’s lukewarm endorsement of a mayoral candidate was a big deal during the primary, is going to turn into a blue vs. red thing.
Where do you think Ladra’s money is?
Dade Dems (finally) enter Beach race, for Micky Steinberg added by Ladra on
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