Nod in sheriff’s race causes dueling GOP videos
One would think that former President Donald Trump is busy enough, what with the hush money trial in full swing, the first of four criminal trials he is facing for more than 90 felony charges. One would think he’d also lie low, particularly in micro local elections in Miami-Dade which are of little consequence to him.
But Trump has now endorsed three candidates on the local ballot this year. Are more coming?
On Tuesday, he used his Truth Social platform to endorse both State Rep. Alina Garcia, in her run for Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, and State Rep. David Borero, author of the near total abortion ban in Florida.
Read related: For Miami-Dade Elections Supervisor, GOP’s Alina Garcia leads fundraising
“Alina Garcia has done an incredible job in the Florida State House, delivering lasting results for Florida’s families,” Trump wrote Tuesday night. “Now, Alina is running to be Miami-Dade’s Supervisor of Elections and will fight hard to secure our elections and protect voters’ rights.
“Alina has my Complete and Total Endorsement. SHE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,” he posted. Trump’s caps, not mine.
Right afterwards, he gave the thumbs up to Borero.
“David Borero, who is 100% MAGA and has been with us from the very beginning, is a conservative champion for Florida House 111,” Trump posted on Truth Social minutes after he posed the Garcia nod. “He sponsored the ‘Victims of Communism Education’ and is working tirelessly to protect our constitutional rights, stop inflation, secure the border, support our great military/vets, and defend our always under siege Second Amendment.
“David Borero has my Complete and Total Endorsement. He will not let you down,” he said again, like it’s a script put in front of him. No caps this time. Aw, pobrecito David. And how do you give an incomplete endorsement, anyway?
Neither Garcia nor Borero have opposition in the Aug. 20 GOP primary. Sure, there’s another Republican in the race for Supervisor of Elections, but she ain’t going to get much traction. That November contest will be between Garcia and former Republican State Rep. JC Planas, who is a Democrat now.
So, like, big deal. Who is Trump gonna endorse if not these two?
Read related: Rosanna Cordero-Stutz gets Trump’s support in Miami-Dade sheriff’s race
That’s not the same case as with last week’s endorsement by Trump of Miami-Dade Police Assistant Chief Rosanna Cordero-Stutz, who is running for sheriff against 12 other Republicans for the chance to go up against one of four Democrats in November. But, of course, her campaign is being run by Tania Cruz Gimenez and CJ Gimenez, a onetime lobbyist for Trump who is still the son of Republican Congressman — and former Hillary Clinton voter — Carlos Gimenez.
This week, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper and former Miami Commissioner Joe Sanchez, the formerly presumed frontrunner for the Aug. 20 primary, posted a video in response to Trump’s endorsement of Cordero-Stutz in a 13-candidate contest. He is trying to pretend he’s not, but Sanchez is butt hurt.
“I am the only candidate that can bring true independence to Miami-Dade sheriff’s office,” he says in the web video posted on the platform formerly known as Twitter. “I’ve lived in this community all my life, unlike other candidates who live in Broward but want to run for this important position in our county.”
He didn’t say Cordero-Stutz by name. But he didn’t have to.
“I stand with President Trump and Gov. DeSantis,” Sanchez said, adding that his campaign is about law and order. “While other candidates have been spending their time looking for all kinds of endorsements, the only endorsement I want is yours, the people of Miami-Dade,” he says.
But you know he would have taken the Trump endorsement if he could have.
In response to his response, Cordero-Stutz posted a video of her own less than 48 hours later, and watch out. You don’t want to mess with Rosie.
“One of my opponents has a lot to say about me on social media,” Rosie says, standing sorta sideways and bobbing a little, like she’s ready to fight. “He even goes so far as to mock President Trump’s endorsement of me. But let’s be honest, we all know the only reason he’s mocking the endorsement is that he wasn’t qualified enough to receive it.”
Ouch! And you have to see her face!
Read related: Joe Sanchez, James Reyes raise the most funds for Miami-Dade sheriff’s race
“As a career politician, he thought he could coast his way to victory,” she says, without naming him either. But everyone knows she means Sanchez. “But now, he’s in a fight that he didn’t expect.”
“Being sheriff of the nation’s seventh largest police department takes a lot more than posting videos on social media or showing up for cafecito,” Cordero-Stutz says in the video. “It takes dedication to the law and showing up for the community. The entire community, from Aventura to Homestead, not just to those places where we feel comfortable.”
She just gets more vicious from there.
“The truth is he doesn’t think he needs to show up, just like a typical politician, he thinks he can buy the sheriff’s election and then hire the real law enforcement executives to do the job while he poses for photo ops. That’s why all of our other opponents, current and retired Miami-Dade law enforcement professionals, have no respect for him.”
Slay.
The only thing Ladra doesn’t like about Rosie is that damn endorsement.
Some might think that a Trump endorsement would be a poison pill after he challenged the 2020 election results, said he’d like to be a dictator for a day and, well, Jan. 6. But Trump Denial Syndrome is a real thing now.
Barry University Political Science Professor Sean Foreman says that the Trump endorsement is going to fare better in some races than in others.
“Trump’s record is mixed,” Foreman told Political Cortadito. “This year, it can be a double edged sword. But it’s still more positive than negative for Republicans to have Trump’s endorsement, because he has reshaped the Republican Party in his image.”
The sheriff’s race is a perfect example of where an endorsement from the prior POTUS can really “make a difference because there are so many candidates,” Foreman said. “It’s a crowded primary and people don’t know who the candidates are.”
Not so much in Garcia’s race because there’s no real primary and the only contest is in the general. “You’re turning off moderate and independent voters who don’t like Trump,” Foreman explained. “If JC Planas uses it strategically, a Trump endorsement could work against her.”
Just ask Herschel Walker and Dr. Oz what happened in their general elections.
Garcia, who already has the endorsement of Miami-Dade Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera (who got a Trump endorsement when he was elected) and Hialeah Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo, said she was “honored” to get Trump’s endorsement in a text response to Ladra Wednesday. That was it.
Foreman says that the Borero endorsement, without any opposition, is a new campaign trend.
“We’re getting away from endorsing people because you have an actual interest in them and moving to endorsing for the purposes of PR, having a picture for ads and to raise money on it,” the professor says.
“So, we’re going to see Trump’s face everywhere in Miami-Dade County for better or for worse this year”
What about Miami-Dade Fire Capt. Omar Blanco, who is running for state rep to replace Garcia, and Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid, who is running against county Mayor Daniella Levine Cava? Are they chopped higado a la italiana? Where are their endorsements?
“We’ll see soon,” teased Cid.
For now, he’s got local comedian and Instagram producer Mario Ramil, who posted a short video on the platform in a skit where he’s running for vice mayor next to Cid and the two run around trying to place yard signs. A passerby in a car flips them a bird.
It’s not one of Ramil’s funniest videos, but it is one of Cid’s funniest. And it’s brave and different.
Donald Trump endorses two more Miami-Dade candidates in 2024 election added by Ladra on
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