The Miami-Dade School Board election results Tuesday were full of surprises.
The only candidate to win outright on Tuesday was not Miami-Dade Commissioner Dennis Moss, who is termed out and running to replace Larry Feldman in District 9 because he doesn’t know what else to 
do. It was District 7’s Luby Navarro, the only school board incumbent on the ballot, who won a three-way race and was re-elected with 54% of the vote.
But that’s not really a mandate and, in fact, not a great showing if you consider her name recognition and the fact that she had twice as much money, with $108,000, as Marie Flore Lindor-Latortue, a Haitian-American teacher and parent, who got 29% of the vote with $61,500 raised, and more than eight times as much as former teacher and principal turned businesswoman Lorraine Ordenes Real, who got 17% with $13,700 raised, as of the last campaign finance reports, which were filed last week and record transactions through Aug. 13 (which is why Ladra is using raised figures instead of spent because they likely spent the rest in the last five days).
Read related: Lying Larry Feldman backs proxy in Miami-Dade School Board race
Moss must have gotten heartburn when he heard he is in a runoff with Luisa Santos, of all people, after voters rejected Nancy Lawther, the teachers’ union choice and Feldman’s handpicked successor 
after he decided not to run for re-election (he never really lived in his district anyway). Santos was the underdog in that race. Also losing: Esther “Shelly” Fano, mother-in-law to former State Rep. Erik Fresen, and Justin Koren, assistant principal at Killian High, who had more campaign money than anyone, even Moss, including $80K he loaned himself.
But Moss didn’t campaign much, relying solely on his name rec, and he may have peaked. He might be considered the front runner by some, but he better do more in the next couple of months because Santos is a hard-working firecracker who reminds people of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the district — which overlaps but is not the same as his commission district — is 64% Hispanic.
In the District 5 race, Doral Vice Mayor Christy Fraga and former Miami Springs Councilwoman Mara Zapata basically tied for first place with 39% of the vote each and will go head to head Nov. 3. One of them will replace Susie Castillo, who also chose not to run again. Michel Diaz Suarez, who didn’t campaign and only raised enough to pay the $2,800 qualifying fee, got 14% of the vote and Jaime Petralanda, another former 
Miami Springs Council member who, las malas lenguas say, was thrown in the race to steal votes from Zapata, raised $31,000 and got almost 9%.
It’s kind of odd that Petralanda, with more money, name rec, yard signs and the endorsements of Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid and Medley Mayor Roberto Martell, landed five points under an unknown guy who didn’t spend any money and barely campaigned, if at all. Diaz may have been another plantidate.
Read related: Dade School Board candidates file; two will vie for vacated seat
Fraga, who is termed out — and everyone thought she would run for mayor in Doral — is being helped by Sen. Manny Diaz, Jr. and his campaign goon David Custin, so she might just be a candidate for the charter school industry, which is expected to play here since there is an opportunity to get a third of the school board in their favor. Zapata, a Miami-Dade Schools administrator who resigned her city seat for this run, is the union’s choice.
In Miami Beach, the runoff to replace Martin Karp, who also decided not to seek re-election, will be between two public school teachers at Miami Beach High.
Russ Rywell was the perceived front runner, but came in second, even after he was endorsed by both 
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, Aventura Mayor Enid Weisman, the unions, the Miami Herald and loaned himself $100,000. With 26% of the vote, he will face Lucia Baez-Geller, who got 28% of the vote with the endorsement of the Democratic Party, three Dem state senators and Miami Shores Mayor Crystal Wagar.
Many expected psychologist Raquel Bild-Libbin, wife of former Miami Beach Commissioner Jerry Libbin, to do better than 13%. She also had $93,000, even though $53K was a loan to herself. Joshua Levy, who had $33,300, got 23% and Marcela Gomez-Bogolmoni, who raised $27,400, got 11%.
The winners of these three races on Nov. 3 will each serve a four-year term on the school board, which controls a $5 billion budget and oversees 392 schools, 345,000 students and 40,000 employees.
For Miami-Dade School Board, Dennis Moss and five others head to 3 runoffs added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
