Shocker! Monique Nicole Barley, who came in fifth in the race for Miami-Dade mayor last week — but third in a number of predominantly black precincts — endorsed Commissioner Esteban Bovo on 
Thursday instead of her fellow Democrat, Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava.
What’s more is she’s likely leaving the Democratic Party and turning — gasp — Republican. It’s the party’s fault for totally dissing her.
“This is not something that I decided overnight. It’s been bothering me for a while,” Barley told Ladra late Thursday. “The idea was already there after I saw that the Democratic Party, they really don’t stand up for what they’re supposed to stand up for. If you don’t do exactly as they say, you’re not a part of their party.
Read related: Esteban Bovo leads mayoral race, goes to runoff vs Daniella Levine Cava
“They don’t stand for their true purpose, mainly to represent the middle class, low income and the black community,” Barley said. Instead, in Miami-Dade at least, they preferred the two white millionaires.
“They never reached out to me. The Black Caucus never reached out to me,” Barley said. “And I think I had the best black agenda, what they were looking for.”
Barley said local Dems were upset with her Thursday about the choice.
“They say I betrayed them but they betrayed me,” she said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come in third 
place in the precinct with the largest black community.” She is talking about Miami Gardens, where she also benefited from the competitive commission District 1 race and state Democratic primaries that overlapped.
Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chairman Steve Simeonidis told Ladra that the party intentionally stayed out of the first round. “There were numerous qualified Democrats in the race so we were completely neutral in the primary,” he said, declining to comment further.
While the prized props would come from the top two fellow castaway candidates, former Mayor Alex Penelas and Commissioner Xavier Suarez — who came in third and fourth, respectively — they are still hemming and hawing. Bovo reached out personally to Barley after she got 5% of the vote with almost no money. Levine Cava, she said, had a surrogate call her. Or an intern, maybe.
“We were supposed to have a meeting,” she told Ladra. “But they said she was out traveling so the meeting never happened.”
Read related: Mystery endorsement for Daniella Levine Cava won’t be mayoral castaway
Barley did meet with Bovo, however. “Steve Bovo has the right ideas to take Miami-Dade County 
forward,” she says in an online endorsement. “He has shown leadership, effectiveness and a willingness to serve. Together we stand for a better quality of life for the residents of our County.”
“We are on the same page as far as issues and things that are important to me in my district, like quality parks and recreation programs, economic development in Liberty City and Model City,” Barley told Ladra.
Yeah, she said district. Did she mean county commission district 3? Where her cousin, Miami Commissioner Keon Hardemon, is expected to slide into the seat vacated by termed-out Commissioner Audrey Edmonson? Is this endorsement part of some deal?
Barley, who told Ladra this would not be her last run for office, is the daughter of former State Rep. Roy Hardemon — and comes with that family’s fundraising power and influence — who also slammed the Democratic Party with the same anti-Black rhetoric, saying it “lynched” him in 2018 by recruiting current State Rep. Dotie Joseph to run against him in the primary. Like father, like daughter?
Strange as it may have seemed at first, this endorsement does help Bovo grow his base. While nobody expects him to get all her 22,000-plus votes, it’s exactly what someone wants in an endorsement at this 
point in the game — peeling off some new votes. Bovo is going to need to get votes from across the aisle in the general if he wants to win in an increasingly partisan race in a county that Trump lost badly in 2016. Meanwhile, Levine Cava keeps doubling down on her Dem defense, adding Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Congresswoman Donna Shalala to her progressive posse.
Bovo didn’t return a call and a text from Ladra. The only thing he posted quickly Thursday morning on Twitter was a photo with the quote from Barley exhalting him and a “thank you for supporting #TeamBovo.” He spent more time and three tweets courting Suarez on Twitter Thursday evening with compliments and agreeing with X on some of his bit 10 big issues.
Read related: Agriculture Commissioner Nikky Fried backs Daniella Levine Cava for mayor
Suarez “ran a principled and policy driven campaign,” Bovo tweeted. “We are in full agreement on making government more efficient, and as Mayor I commit to following through on his suggestions that 
I believe to be good for the taxpayers.”
He aligned himself with X, whether Suarez wants him to or not.
“On transportation, like Xavier, I am dedicated to improving our system & will rely on his valued inputs & involvement. To increase affordable housing in our county, his proposal of reviewing all county property to determine how we may utilize it in partnership with the private sector makes great sense,” Bovo tweeted in 2/3.
“I firmly believe that our county will thrive so long as we have a commitment to take the best ideas forward. Suarez & I share common values and are dedicated to good government & common sense solutions for our county’s future prosperity.”
Suarez told Ladra late Thursday that he hadn’t seen the tweets but he was still waiting to see how the two runoff candidates coincide with his positions. Penelas has told journalists that he is still thinking about who to knight, but some close to him say he won’t make an endorsement either way.
The best thing about Barley’s endorsement of Bovo is they can’t say it’s a Republican or a Cuban thing.
Monique Nicole Barley backs Esteban Bovo for Miami-Dade mayor added by Ladra on
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A sitting republican mayor once confided in me his/her intention to jump parties. I said don’t do it. The Dem party works on a system where they plan years in advance who is scheduled to run. They don’t believe in true democracy in Miami-Dade. They operate as a political machine. You gotta kiss the ring of the political bosses. Unless you are already in the Dem queue, you are gonna lose a lot of money by trying to run as a Dem for any seat in Miami-Dade without the party’s blessing. They switched strategies about 6-7 years ago to focus on getting “key” favorite blue children into races that they could win and actually winning at all costs.
” I am a Democrat. But this is the reason I am leaving the party”
Actually there has been an exodus from both parties .
I have issues on both sides and disdain career politicians .
Outside of Miami , you are actually seeing new politicians on both sides of the isle defeating incumbents .
The Truth,
Well politics for the most part is the lesser of the evils but here it always seems to be that and ” lesser ” is often here a joke .
Its like being bit by a 6 foot bull shark or 6 foot tiger shark , that pretty much sums up the usual Miami politics .
You vote on who you think will steal the least which by no stretch of the imagination do I think is Bovo and you also vote on who you feel will do the least amount of damage which is your point in supporting him .
I was looking up their work history and Bovo seems to have been a politician in one form or another his entire life or am I wrong ?
Has Bovo ever had a job outside of politics ?
It seems like he has always been in politics bouncing from one position to another or am I wrong ?
Max,
I am a Democrat. But this is the reason I am leaving the party. Every time there is a different opinion or position taken from the Democrat Party, our free speech and rights are trampled upon. This is why the silent majority consist of a whole bunch of Democrats voting Republican this year.
Bovo and Trump will prevail!
Please. Spare us the fake handwringing and even dumber analysis.
You’re a Trumptard and your vote for Bovo is already baked into the projections. So, do your thing.
… and on the 7th day God said, let every leftist imbecile with a second grade level education own a smart device to post endless nonsense.
I don’t like Esteban Bovo at all, but Daniella Levine Cava is part of the Democratic Party that has gone too far left. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is forcing the party into radicalism. Defunding the police and allowing for protestors and agitators to destroy property is enough for me. God forbid anything happening here in Miami, Daniella would sit on the sideline just like in Chicago, Portland, Seattle, etc….
Hell no, Esteban Bovo is the less of two evils!
Here are some things Esteban Bovo is. He is a known “boletero”. He is a Gimenez lackey and a Marco Rubio pawn. Here is what he is not: A communist. That tag is reserved for Cava, who will tax us to death and be submissive to a group of malcontents who prefer anarchism over democracy.
What is the simple definition of communism?
Communism is an economic ideology that advocates for a classless society in which all property and wealth is communally-owned, instead of by individuals. The communist ideology was developed by Karl Marx and is the opposite of a capitalist one, which relies on democracy and production of capital to form a society.
That describes Cava pretty well. A vote for her is a vote for lawlessness and disorder.
What is the simple definition of communism?
It’s not DLC. Stop being such an idiot.
Hey, commie lover, here is an idea, work for a living a stop asking the government for hand-outs. Those of us who pay taxes in this county are not willing to subsidize your sorry life. Come November, your witch-from-the-west candidate will be put to pasture.
Yawn. This is too stupid to even bother with a substantive response.
Like I said, stop being an idiot.
Esteban Bovo supports and will vote for the disastrous Donald Trump, and this will cost him dearly. Bovo will lose the election. This endorsement will not help. Hopefully, Trump will also lose.
So she’s going to go the Candace Owens route now? Que clase de payasa. I guess her supporters are cool with having their intelligence insulted by this Z-list grifter?
Commissioner Bovo is Corrupt as they come along with his close friend Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Daniella Levine Cava is far the best choice and since there are far more Democrats in races with each other it fits Monique Nicole Barley’s game plan to switch Party affiliation because it’s more convenient for her so she can get elected by a Republican party group ! There are a whole bunch of two faced self serving politicians out here and Bovo ,Gimenez as well as Barley are no different !
So Ms. Barley got her feelings hurt because the Democratic Party ignored her, so she agrees to back an ultra conservative candidate to protect the interests of her low income and black community? This is why we are unable to move forward with our community’s needs.
Who would actively solicit a Hardemon endorsement? even the Miami Times said
. They are our elected officials, preachers and community activists. They are mentally unable to make rational decisions on the behalf of the community because, the moment that they see dollar signs, the whore in them comes out.