Miami's Alex Diaz de la Portilla loses re-election bid to Miguel Gabela on 4th try

Commissioner Elect vows to fire city attorney

It’s interesting that the name Miguel translates to Michael in English — because on Tuesday, Allapattah auto parts dealer Miguel Gabela became the archangel who drove the devil out of Miami.

Gabela, who has run three times prior to this, beat former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla with a comfortable 8-point lead, 54% to 46%, in an election that was basically a rematch. Both faced off in a runoff in 2019 when ADLP won with 61%, or almost 1,000 more votes.

What a difference four years and an arrest makes.

The incumbent was taken to jail in September on public corruption charges that include bribery, money laundering, criminal conspiracy and unlawful compensation in a pay-to-play scheme where he gave away a public park for at least $245,000 in campaign contributions, some hotel accommodations and snacks. But he was already weak and Gabela said he was confident before the arrest based on other behavior — the ghost employees Jenny Nillo and two others, his appearance at an illegal nightclub during the pandemic, where he pushed a city employee, a lawsuit against him for an alleged shakedown.

Interestingly, Diaz de la Portilla beat Gabela in early voting, lending some heft to the rumors that the DLP camp was bussing voters to the polls.

He may have lost the mail-in vote count because he spent a lot of time and money campaigning against non candidates like the Broward prosecutor handling his case and three specific people who supported Gabela: former State Rep. now lobbyist Manny Prieguez (who used to support ADLP), lobbyist and son of the congressman C.J. Gimenez (who used to support ADLP), and attorney J.C. Planas (I don’t think he ever liked ADLP).

All three were featured in one of the most recent mailers dropped by ADLP. All three celebrated Gabela’s victory Tuesday at the 94th Aero Squadron restaurant by the airport.

Gabela did not return calls and texts Tuesday because he was too busy at said party. But he told TV reporters there that the first thing he is going to do is call for the termination of City Attorney Victoria Mendez. He had previously told this to Ladra. But he’s going to need more than Damian Pardo‘s vote.

Diaz de la Portilla perhaps was counting on the city and the courts to intervene. The city had sued to invalidate Gabela’s candidacy based on the residency requirement of one year prior to qualification. Because his house was intentionally drawn out of District 1 during the redistricting process — while Gabela was already openly campaigning — the city says he does not meet that requirement.

“Stay tuned,” is all he texted Tuesday night. It is very hard for him to accept defeat.

On Monday, he and the city lost an emergency motion to invalidate votes for Gabela. Tuesday afternoon, the city filed an appeal to that decision. But that was before Diaz de la Portilla lost. It was unclear late Tuesday if the city attorney was still going to fight for a former commissioner that voters rejected.

Maybe she’s just trying to save her job. But is that an appropriate use of staff time and taxpayer dollars?

This race might also set a record for the amount spent per vote, even though a final tally might not be known for weeks. Between his candidate campaign account and his political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade, Diaz de la Portilla raised more than $1.8 million for this race, much of it from developers doing business with the city who are now regretting their investment.

It translates to $1,243 per vote. So far.

Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Miguel Gabela

Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla loses re-election bid to Miguel Gabela on 4th try added by Ladra on November 22, 2023
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