Fresh from his re-election Tuesday, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, in his third term now, doesn’t have time to rest. He has to make sure that his commission candidate, who will give him back the majority on the dais that he lost almost two years ago, wins in a runoff two weeks from now.
Richard Lara, general counsel for the Spanish Broadcasting System network of radio stations, got 47% of the vote on Tuesday, which was a majority but not enough to cinch a victory. Lara, who is Lago’s hand-picked pocket vote, heads into a runoff against attorney Tom Wells, who sits on the city’s charter review committee, who came in second with 39%.
“Now we have to get out there and support Richard Lara for the next two weeks. We have a runoff,” Lago said Tuesday night in a short victory speech clip for the A Day In Miami podcast’s Instagram account. The mayor already has one vote with the re-election of Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson — who won with 58% of the vote Tuesday — but he needs another guaranteed ally if he’s not going to stay on the losing end of a 3-2 avalanche for the next two years.
“I’m counting on your support to bring civility, trust and respect back to the city of Coral Gables,” Lago said in his short clip.
He’s one to talk.
Read related: Vince Lago, Rhonda Anderson handily coast to re-election in Coral Gables
Claudia Miro, a transit lobbyist at Freebee and one-time assistant to former Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, came in a distant third with 13.5%.
But she’s the darling on Wednesday because both Wells and Lara, and their respective campaigns, will want Miro’s endorsement. Throwing her support — and 1,356 votes — one way or the other could make or break either one of the two runoff candidates.
“I haven’t even thought about that yet,” Miro told Political Cortadito late Tuesday, adding that she was proud of her campaign and had no regrets.
“I would have regretted not running,” she said. “I can hold my he’d up high. I had a clean campaign and ran on my own attributes and qualifications. I still think I was the best choice but, as we know, sometimes the most qualified candidate doesn’t win.”
Ouch.
Well, lots of other people are thinking about her endorsement, and speculating that Miro — who was once Anderson’s appointment to the planning and zoning board until she upset the mayor with a vote and got kicked off — was always a spoiler sleeper candidate who will throw her weight behind Lara.
This could be because she was standing on the same side of the street near Lago during early voting over the weekend.
Or because she has complained about Wells’ negative campaigning.
Wells, whose motto is “neighbors restoring civility” and who signed a clean campaign promise form — the only one in the race to do so — has taken some digs at Miro. She’s noticed.
Or maybe because Sarnoff and Mason Pertnoy, an attorney who represents Lago (and Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo), gave her $1,000 each for her campaign.
Commissioner Kirk Menendez, who lost to Lago 55% to 38%, was more forthcoming in his support for Wells and said in his concession speech Tuesday night that the attention had to be turned to the runoff.
“We have to do everything we can to help Tom get over the hump,” Menendez told a small crowd of family and friends at Birdie’s Bistro. He said he had known Lara for more than 25 years but was voting for Wells because of Lara’s association with Lago.
Read related: Coral Gables candidate Richard Lara has not voted in the city since 1999
“I don’t endorse anybody but I’m voting for anybody who is not linked to those who don’t have our best interests at heart,” Menendez said, and it’s more complicated that it sounds. He is voting against Lara.
“There is still a fight in us left and it’s fighting for Tom. And by fighting for Tom, it’s a fight for our community,” Menendez said.
It’s going to be a hard fight. Lara will certainly have more money and more people working for his campaign. He raised more than $169,000 as of April 3, according to the most recent campaign finance report, and still had about $75K in the bank. Wells has financed his own campaign to the tune of $36,000 plus, according to his reports.
And while the mayoral race is no longer a draw on the ballot, and the runoff hits on Easter week, Lago will use his organization and campaign machinery, as well as financial support, to help Lara win. He will get his people out to vote.
He has to. The mayor will continue to be powerless without Lara on the commission.
Coral Gables mayor’s power hinges on runoff — Richard Lara vs Tom Wells added by Ladra on
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