They may have a new mayor already, but Coral Gables voters aren’t done picking the two commissioners who will serve alongside Vince Lago. Both commission races will have runoffs, as expected, on April 27.
The Group 2 race looks more lopsided and Jose Valdes-Fauli, brother of the current mayor, Raul Valdes-Fauli has a lot of work to do. Rhonda Anderson heads into the runoff with the momentum — and a 16-point lead over Valdes-Fauli, mostly fueled by her staunch anti-development stance.
In Group 2, Rhonda Anderson pulled 42% of the vote and Jose Valdes-Fauli pulled 26%. Anderson got 1,636 votes more than he did and that’s a pretty big gap to close in two weeks. Even if they split the rest of the votes down the middle — and Anderson will get all the anti-Valdes-Fauli votes — she will still be on top. And she should win. Otherwise the dais will be all male.
Tania Cruz-Gimenez came in third with 13% and the rest just trailed. It was a surprisingly low showing for the daughter-in-law of Congressman Carlos Gimenez, who was the county mayor just the other day and, as county commissioner, represented most of Coral Gables.
Ladra thinks it’s because Cruz-Gimenez didn’t go negative on Valdes-Fauli, and she could have. He certainly had a whisper campaign against her — as well as the mailer on her accrued years’ worth of garbage fees.
Claudia Miro and Mayra Joli got around 8% each and Alexander Luis Haq got 174 votes, which is mostly family, friends and neighbors.
In Group 3, Javier Baños and Kirk Menendez came in almost head to head, with 32% and 31% respectively. That’s a difference of only 120 votes. Not a good showing for Baños, who has been campaigning the longest, for more than a year.
Alex Bucelo trailed with 24% of the vote and P.J. Mitchell got 13%.
Ladra is pretty certain that the Mitchell votes and at least half the Bucelo votes will go to Menendez.
Two Coral Gables commission races head into runoffs in two weeks added by Ladra on
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