In another close race mirroring the 2017 contest, Coral Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli was barely able to hold on to his seat against former Commissioner Jeannett Slesnick.
Now, we can’t say Valdes-Fauli won by a scant 187 votes anymore. Now, it’s a flimsy 123!
Not really a mandate, is it? The margin is even narrower than it was two years ago, when Valdes-Fauli won his first term. It could narrow further as absentee ballots that come in Tuesday and provisional ballots are counted. Who knows? It may get close enough to trigger an automatic recount. Or go the other way.
In the sole commission race — Commissioner Mike Mena was re-elected without opposition — there will be a runoff, as expected, after Ralph Cabrera got almost 40% of the vote and the next closest candidate got 31%. The second round is on April 24.
But this was the second round for Slesnick and Valdes-Fauli, and the incumbent showed a lead early on. When it was just absentee ballots, the first to be counted, V
aldes-Fauli was leading 53% to 47% with a 236-vote advantage.
But, while not enough, Slesnick’s people turned out stronger on Election Day and the margin narrowed to 50.7% to 49.3% by the time the precincts had reported just after 8 p.m.
Ouch for Slesnick who lost by only a few dozen votes — again! It must be heartbreaking to work so hard and come so close.
Read related: Ralph Cabrera set to enter runoff with campaign cash advantage
A total of 8,572 of the city’s 33,194 registered voters cast ballots, almost a 26% turnout.
Cabrera had the win from the get-go, with a substantial lead of nearly 40% when absentee ballots were counted. The second highest AB getter was Jorge Fors, Jr., who got 31%. Former interim city manager Carmen Olazabal got 26% and Jackson “Rip” Holmes got just over 3%.
That means voters will have to go out again in two weeks to choose between Cabrera and Fors.
Coral Gables voters return Raul Valdes-Fauli, send two to runoff added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
