Riding high off recent poll results that show him the clear frontrunner, former Congressman Joe Garcia — who wants his job back and is running against his former friend Annette Taddeo in the Democratic primary — will open his campaign headquarters in Palmetto Bay Saturday, where the village’s old town hall used to be.
This is the first campaign office, in the same place he’s had an office for two campaign years. But he plans on opening two, one in the Kendall area, probably closer to FIU.
It does not mean Garcia has Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene Flinn‘s nod. “I haven’t even thought about it yet,” said Flinn, who beat Taddeo for the #2 runoff slot against Lynda Bell in the 2010 commission race.
He said he would likely make an endorsement, but not for a few weeks.
Palmetto Bay was chosen because a lot of the 2014 volunteers lived in or near that area and, one staffer said, because Garcia needs to hit the ground game ball rolling since he sorta jumped into the race last minute (per usual).
“This is really Perrine, or across the street, and the target area is West Perrine and Kendall,” said Kevin Chambliss, a campaign staffer. “We get a lot of volunteers from there.”
Chambliss admitted that Team Joe was feeling high still from the results of a poll earlier this month that gave Garcia a giant 25-point lead over Taddeo.
But, he added, they are working hard to make it prophetic instead of ironic.
“We know we have to prove those polls,” he said. “It’s almost like one of those things where its too good to be true, so we are going to think it is too good to be true and we are going to keep working hard.”
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It’s not so good to be true if you think about Taddeo’s streak. She is a three-time loser with a commission seat, a congressional seat (a different one) and the LG position in the “defeated” column. It stands to reason that people would be drawn to an alternative.
Garcia, who wants and will likely get his rematch against freshman U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, will speak to volunteers and supporters at the grand opening of the new HQ, which starts at 1 p.m. at 9845 E Fern Street (just off of U.S. 1 and 175th Street).