Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime announced Thursday that he was suspending his campaign and blamed the coronavirus spread and COVID19 infections that have hit his community particularly hard.
Yeah, okaaaay. That must be the new version of “I want to spend more time with my family.”
Monestime, who still has two years left on his term after November, was always going to bow out. Ladra predicted it months ago. 
Why now? Perhaps he realized at the end of the month that he had no contributions to report? Nah. Because no one is raising money. It’s impossible now to ask people for money. Of course, some candidates had a head start and he was lagging way behind.
It may also be because Monestime, who is not termed out this year, would have had to resign to run in a couple of weeks. He likely didn’t want to risk two more years — two important years — for a long shot.
The big question, however, is who? Who is he going to throw his support behind?
He has three colleagues on the ballot: Commissioners Esteban “Steve” Bovo, Daniella Levine-Cava and Xavier Suarez. 
There’s also former Mayor Alex Penelas. Former Commissioner and State Rep. Juan Zapata — who was the first to file any paperwork — was also the first to drop out of the race in January. There are five other complete unknown candidates, including someone new named Carlos de Armas who opened his account in March — and a gofundme page trying to get $5,000 for the campaign — but none of them are considered viable and none has raised much more than $1,000, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
Monestime did not say who he would support in his posted announcement and did not return calls and texts to his cell phone. His voice mail was full, of course. But he is likely to support either Levine Cava, a fellow Democrat, or Suarez, who can be described as a progressive independent. Ladra thinks that he is most simpatico with X and that the announcement language pretty much leaves Bovo out totally.
This is Monestime’s full announcement, which was sent via text and Twitter.
“I have humbly come to the conclusion that our campaign’s ability to compete has been greatly impaired by the current social economic environment. For this reason, as of today, I am withdrawing my candidacy for Miami-Dade Mayor. While I do hope that the working people find a true champion in the next county mayor, I will faithfully remain committed to making their voices even stronger as I continue to serve as their county commissioner.
A large section of the constituency I depend on for this campaign is amongst the hardest hit. Many of them are now
laid off or uninsured. Some are either ill, hospitalized or worrying about a family member, while others continue to mourn the death of loved ones. As they run from food drive to food drive in order to put food on the table, their main concern is whether they’ll land the next job before being hit even harder by the impending food pandemic.
That constituency still needs a strong advocate for change on the county commission to foster innovative, effective solutions to reduce income inequality in this county: Change that will lift people out of poverty, rebuild our economy and put our residents back to work, help stop the violence in the inner city, provide a better education for our children, inspire struggling mothers, level the playing field for small businesses to compete, develop attainable housing, turn our climate challenge into an opportunity instead of a threat and work toward an affordable countywide mass transit system.
I want to thank those who have carried me this far. Serving you has been my biggest blessing. My life has been the American dream. And my life’s work has been ensuring that the dream endures.”
Photographed above at one of the food giveaway drive-throughs he was talking about, Monestime was the first Haitian American elected to the Miami-Dade commission when voters of District 2 chose him in 2010 to replace Dorrin Rolle (who passed away last week). He served as commission chairman in 2015 and was really good at it. He decided to run for mayor in October — las malas lenguas say he was pushed to do it — and is the second serious contender candidate to drop out of the race.
Read related: Juan Zapata quits mayor’s race, but Zorro could ride again in District 5
Levine Cava, who is also risking the last two years on her term for this mayoral bid, was effusive in her praise and vowed to continue to work on the issues that are important to her colleague.
“Jean Monestime has been more than a colleague, he is a friend,” Levine Cava told Ladra. “He is a strong voice on the commission with a deep-rooted passion to achieve so much for our community.
“Jean brought important issues to the race and he is right — we have deep systematic divides that must be addressed and solved in our county. I’ll work my heart out every day to continue to fight for the issues that brought Jean into this race and I know together we will work until we bring justice and opportunity to those who have been left behind.”
Suarez, who used to sit next to Monestime on the dais, said he has learned a lot from his friend. “He is a classy guy. We have a 
great relationship. We share the same values,” Suarez said, bring up Monestime’s record on human rights issues.
“And he was a very good commission chair.”
Penelas said Monestime’s withdrawal was not a loss but a gain, a “win win” for everyone considering that six of the thirteen commissioners are termed out and new blood is coming. A seventh, Levine Cava, has to resign to run.
“Half the commission will be brand new and the fact that he’ll be there for another two years is a great thing,” Penelas told Ladra, adding that Monestime’s seniority will be important for the new commissioners as well as the incoming mayor.
“And the things he stands for, with his prosperity campaign against economic disparities? That is an issue that is going to be even more important for the next two years, at least,” Penelas said.
So it’s not really a “goodbye”. This is more like a “hang on.”
Jean Monestime says COVID19 cut short his Miami-Dade mayoral bid added by Ladra on
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