Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava crushes challengers in re-election

It’s over. There will be no runoff for the Miami-Dade mayor’s post.

In what was not a close race at all, La Alcaldesa Daniella Levine Cava won with 58% of the vote in the primary that ended Tuesday. Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid beat five other challengers to get second place and it was still only 23%.

Comedian, activist and podcaster Alex Otaola, whose Hola Otaola YouTube channel has more than 300,000 subscribers, got almost 12% of the vote. That’s because many of the subscribers and supporters — and donors to his campaign — don’t live in Miami-Dade. Or aren’t registered to vote.

Ladra suspects this is not the last we have heard of him, though. He could very well run for office again. After he complains loudly that this election was stolen, of course.

Otaola beat former Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger, who had filed a last minute lawsuit to remove DLC from the ballot because she was listed as if Cava was her last name. It was dismissed. And so was Danzinger, who got less than 2% of the vote.

Even Spanish-language TV host and personality Carlos Garin got a better result with 3%.

Trapeze artist Miguel “El Skipper” Quintero and Eddy Rojas, who owns a valet parking company, got just over 1% each.

At Ball & Chain Lounge Tuesday night — where Miami-Dade Chief of Public Safety James Reyes also celebrated his victory in the Democrat primary for sheriff — Levine Cava held court among happy supporters and media outlets.

“We knew from Day 1 that we would be a people-powered campaign,” she told the crowd under some puke green lights from a stage standing next to her husband, Miami-Dade’s First Gentleman, Robert Cava.

The first woman elected to the county mayor’s post, DLC issued a statement less than 90 minutes after the polls closed at 7 p.m.

“I am truly humbled and honored by the vote of confidence, and the trust the voters placed in me to serve another four years as your Mayor. Through the hard work, unwavering commitment, long hours and hot days, we marked a decisive win, despite facing six opponents who attacked us, lied about our progress and the incredible work we have done.

We knew from day one, we were going to be a people powered campaign once again, committed to vision, integrity and a continued promise to deliver results. With your energy and passion for good government, I knew we would be unstoppable.

Just as I promised four years ago, I will do so again tonight. I am ready and promise to continue doing the work that needs to get done. We will double-down on our housing challenges, invest in our infrastructure so we can be future ready, prioritize healthy and safe communities and ensure we are a resilient county that protects and preserves our environment. We will continue to partner with our business community so together we can chart a path for progress to take on challenges big and small. And I promise to stay community focused to empower people to achieve their full potential and live their American Dream.

What makes Miami-Dade great is our people. And just as our nation’s motto reads- Out of Many, One- we are ONE Miami-Dade! Today, Tomorrow, Always. I cherish and guard the vote of confidence and reiterate today that I will continue to lead. You are my priority, your hopes, dreams, needs, and shared concerns for our future. When I win, we ALL win. Let’s dance and celebrate tonight, and tomorrow we take on the future.”

Literally, tomorrow: Levine Cava’s camp announced late Tuesday that she would have a press conference at her Little Havana campaign headquarters Wednesday morning. But it’s too soon to start talking about the $2.5 billion bond bomb she dropped at the State of the County address and then walked back during the campaign, so it can’t be that, right?

Cid was also proud of his performance — after all, one could say he was 8 points away from forcing a runoff. And he was outspent, probably about 10 to 1. We will do the math tomorrow, but everyone knows that she has raised millions between her political action committees and her campaign.

And Cid did it all by his lonesome, with no support from the Republican Party, while Levine Cava got lots of hugs from the local Dems.

“Today’s race opens the doors for more working class people to run for office going forward,” Cid said. “They can cay ‘Hey, Manny Cid got 23% of the vote. He was pretty much all by himself and he was working every day, running a small business, cooking, teaching at a university, teaching at a high school.

“I hope this encourages others because it can be done,” Cid said.

He failed to mention that his wife also gave birth to their fourth child, who was born two months ago in the middle of his campaign. That could also be why he is going to focus on family for a while before he decides what his political future holds.

“I owe my wife a tremendous debt I don’t know if I can ever repay,” Cid told Political Cortadito. “My first job is going to be to make up for that.”

But he’s not going too far, it seems.

“While I wish the mayor and her family all the best, we still have to stand up to her administration and their war on the middle class,” Cid said.

Let the battles begin.

Daniella Levine Cava, Manny Cid, Miami-Dade Mayor’s race

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava crushes challengers in re-election added by Ladra on August 20, 2024
View all posts by Ladra →