Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava is all in.
The 64-year-old who wants to make history as the county’s first female mayor made it official Friday when she submitted her 
resignation letter to the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, as required by Florida’s “resign to run” law.
This also means that her seat officially opens up, and the four candidates who have already filed paperwork to run for the District 8 seat in 2022 (more on that later) have to hurry up and hurry up for what will likely be a special election after November. There is likely no time to put that race on the August ballot.
“With our county facing many challenges and the office for Miami-Dade County Mayor on the ballot this year, I intend to submit qualifying paperwork for the office during the qualifying period that begins on Tuesday, May 26,” Levine Cava wrote to Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor Christina White.
“This correspondence shall serve as my irrevocable resignation as Miami-Dade Commissioner for District 8 effective November 16, 2020 at 11:59 p.m.
Read related: Jean Monestime says COVID19 cut short his Miami-Dade mayoral bid
This comes on the heels of an internal poll released earlier this week that shows Levine Cava in the lead position with 22% 
support over former Mayor Alex Penelas (with 20%), and Commissioners Xavier Suarez (14%) and Esteban Bovo (10%), both of whom are termed out this year. There are seven other candidates who got 10% between them and another 23% of the voters said they were undecided.
But that means 77% of the voters decided she was not the one for them.
The poll of 487 people, done between April 30 and May 3, also indicates that 23% of the voters are still undecided. That’s more than the number of voters who like Levine Cava. And, if she makes it into a head to head contest with Penelas or Suarez in November, how much of the the other 77% does she think she can take?
Of course, it’s an internal poll, which aren’t always reliable, and it is exactly the opposite of the Penelas internal poll earlier this year that had Penelas and Suarez almost head to head and Levine Cava in the dust with Bovo. Ladra asked for but did not get the entire poll with the language in the questions. The campaign only released a few snapshots.
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But Levine Cava also qualified via signed petitions — that may already indicate 12,254 people, or the 1% of the registered voters she needed, are willing to give her their vote. The campaign said they submitted more than 20,000 petitions, making Levine Cava the first county mayoral candidate to qualify that way.
And she has added a lot to her fat bank accounts. Between her campaign account ($648,000) and her Our Democracy political action committee ($1.85 million), her $2.5 million in campaign contributions, according to the last campaign finance reports through March 31, is only bested by the $4 mil plus collected by Penelas.
Recent events have also, lets admit it, helped someone who has always championed workers’ rights and 
recently proposed earned sick leave, which would protect workers during this COVID19 pandemic, an idea that was shot down at the commission’s policy council. She also has been using online tele town halls, like one last week about COVID reopening and federal and state resources, even before the pandemic forced others to go virtual.
“This election is squarely a choice between our past challenges and a bold future,” Levine-Cava said in an earlier statement.
“The crisis we face today only sheds light on why the choice our community makes in their next County Mayor is extremely critical. As we look to heal the hurt, comfort the anxious and rebuild shattered businesses, we need a mayor who will bridge coalitions, lift up every sector of Miami-Dade County, has the compassion to lead with conviction and is ready to execute a plan that draws from the strength within our community to get us through what will be some of the hardest times in modern history.”
“That’s the track record I have in this community for nearly 40-years,” she said.
Senior campaign advisor Christian Ulvert said the poll numbers are especially significant because the truly aggressive voter outreach has not begun yet.
Read related: Daniella Levine Cava’s first Miami-Dade mayoral 2020 mailer hit last week
“With the election fast approaching, the latest numbers in the race for mayor confirm what we continue to hear across Miami-Dade County — Daniella Levine Cava continues to bring together a broad coalition of residents just as she did in 2014 in her decisive win to the county commission,” Ulvert said in a statement.
“From day one, we launched a campaign that was by the people and for the people, and Daniella’s grassroots effort to be the first ever to qualify by petition shows how excited voters about her candidacy,” he said, adding that this was significant because the real voter outreach has not begun yet. “As we enter the next phase of the campaign where we will deploy an aggressive voter communication program, I am confident we will continue to see this lead expand and grow.”
Ulvert also said that Levine Cava has seen her countywide name recognition grow to 62% as she ventures 
into communities that never heard of her before, like Aventura and West Miami-Dade. But she is practically as unknown as Bovo, who is basically a stranger outside Hialeah and Miami Lakes.
And the poll also found good news for Xavier Suarez, who had the highest countywide name recognition with 89% — two points higher than Penelas who did serve as countywide mayor from 1996 to 2004 and wants the job back.
“The name recognition figures seem to be the only objective and well done part of that poll,” Suarez told Ladra Sunday. “With an almost 90% name recognition and my otherwise established favorable ratings — 3.5 to 1 in a February poll — I am quite confident of my chances.”
The survey also asked voters their feelings about Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who got 37% favorability and a 63% approval rating for his response on the COVID19 crisis.
So Levine Cava’s ass kissing is apparently poll driven.
Daniella Levine Cava resigns to run for mayor on heels of happy internal poll added by Ladra on
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