Two days. There are two days left to qualify for the Miami city elections on Nov. 2.
Time is running out — qualification deadline is Saturday — for any really viable candidates to step up and run against Mayor Francis Suarez or Commissioner Joe Carollo, neither of whom deserve a free ride or even another term and both of whom can be beat this year.
Yes, they each have a number of challengers. But those are all long shots. Very long shots.
In the mayoral contest, so far, there are three mayoral challengers who have already filed qualifying papers. Marie Franz Exantus is a graduate student and call center representative, Maxwell Martinez is a 30-year-old David Beckham fan who created an alternative name and logo for the Inter-Miami team in 2016, and immigration attorney Mayra Joli lost a bid for Coral Gables commission in April. The Joli candidacy will suck all the air out of the race. Especially if City Attorney Victoria Mendez sues her for filing bad paperwork, which Joli complained about — loudly — at the Miami budget hearing Monday.
Know more: Sans challenge, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez aims for the White House
“Does the city budget have any specific amount of money to be used by the city attorney to sue a candidate for mayor? I’ve been told that I’m going to be sued,” Joli said. “I think it is a little bit a conflict of interest that the city attorney is commanded to call the candidate and threaten to sue if she doesn’t get off the ballot.”
Joli said that her husband, “who is battling cancer,” took the call on Sept. 9, which was six days after she filed her paperwork. “If there is a defect in the paperwork, the city clerk would have called me,” she said.
“Tell me that is not intimidation. This has something to do with protecting the position of mayor.”
Mendez said that Joli “mischaracterized the phone all that she received to tell her that her paperwork was inaccurate and that she should revisit her paperwork. She swore under oath that she lived in the city of Miami and she swore under oath that she lived in the city of Coral Gables.
“I gave her a courtesy call to tell her that her paperwork was inadequate and she has twisted everything to say she is being forced off the ballot which is quite inaccurate,” a heated Mendez told the commission, explaining that she was obligated to take it to court for a judge to decide.
Know more: Former Coral Gables candidate is running again — for Miami mayor
Three candidates have also already, and so far, qualified against Carollo. They are Andriana Oliva, business attorney and arbitrator Rodney Quinn Smith and, the latest to jump in, Miguel Soliman, who ran in 2017 and came in 5th place with just under 6% of the vote. Soliman’s wife, Brenda Betancourt, is the president of the Calle 8 InterAmerican Chamber of Commerce and has been supportive of Carollo in the past.
But then Crazy Joe stabbed them in the back by backing former State Rep. and little underachieving brother Renier Diaz de la Portilla in the race last year for Miami-Dade Commission against Eileen Higgins, when Soliman was there first. So this is kinda personal.
Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Bruno Barreiro chickened out after he only raised $20,000. Or he was just too lazy.
It was a stupid move. Barreiro just needed to be patient. The money would have come. Because Carollo is vulnerable. He lost by a scant 252 votes in 2017 and has polarized so many people since then that voters tried to recall him last year.
Maybe Carollo had a dossier on the family dropped off at the Barreiro home.
Both incumbents are raising scary money (amounts meant to scare would be challengers), according to the latest campaign finance reports through August, but they carry baggage that could prove more important if someone would just man up.
Know more: Joe Carollo collects $769K in just two months for Miami re-election race
Baby X has his tech boys and cryptocurrency cohorts spending millions to keep him as their number one national spokesman — not sure what that does for actual residents. Suarez has raised more than $5.2 million between his campaign account and his political action committee, Miami For Everyone. It is likely what has kept any real challenger away.
But he is vulnerable also. The Bitcoin boys are going to be voting in Miami Beach and Coral Gables and the abuelitos who vote in every Miami election don’t know what cryptocarajo is. They rejected his strong mayor initiative and he’s been absent on the issues that matter — the pot holes, the street barricades, the flooding and road repairs. He’s too busy giving interviews. He’s a prima donna not a public servant.
Carollo is also raising tons of money, with almost $2.8 million between his campaign account and his PAC, Miami First, which picked up $280,000 just last month.
So both incumbents are getting ready for a fight. Can we please give them one?
Last call for candidates in Miami mayoral, District 3 races in November added by Ladra on
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