Pick your baggage: Miami-Dade District 5 voters get quite the menu this election

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Ah, Miami-Dade elections. Where every race comes with baggage. Sometimes it’s carry-on. Sometimes it’s oversized. And sometimes it needs its own baggage carousel.

The race for Miami-Dade County Commission District 5 has all three.

On one side is incumbent Commissioner Vicki Lopez, the former state representative appointed by the other commissioners after Eileen Higgins was elected mayor of Miami. On another is former Miami Commissioner Joe Sanchez, who has spent years trying to reinvent himself as South Florida’s top law-and-order candidate. And then there’s Rob Piper, the government watchdog and activist whose biggest political claim to fame is helping lead the recall effort against former Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo.

If Piper seems like the odd man out, that’s because he is. Not because he lacks credentials, but because he’s the only one in the race who doesn’t arrive dragging decades of political history behind him.

That’s not necessarily an endorsement. It’s just an observation.

District 5 voters aren’t really choosing between conservative and liberal visions for the county. They’re choosing which political history they’re willing to forgive.

Or forget.

Let’s start with Commissioner Lopez.

Her supporters love to describe her as a reformer, a consensus builder and an effective legislator who delivered for Miami Beach and Miami. They point to millions in appropriations, bipartisan relationships and enough endorsements to wallpaper Government Center.

The political establishment has lined up behind her almost as quickly as the campaign checks have rolled in. Labor unions, police organizations, business interests and elected officials have all embraced the incumbent. The biggest nods come from Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, City of Miami Commissioners Christine King and Miguel Gabela, former Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, the entire Miami Beach city commission, as well as the Miami Realtors political action committee. Por supuesto.

Read related: Miami Realtors crown Vicki ‘Live Local’ Lopez ‘Housing Advocate of the Year’

Her fundraising operation has been nothing short of breathtaking, collecting well over a $1.5 million while her opponents struggle to keep pace. Even Sanchez, who has raised almost $152,000 in his Law and Order PAC, and $76,000 in his campaign account, according to the latest reports. That’s less than he raised in the sheriff’s race, leading one to wonder if supporters have lost faith.

Team Lopez recently announced a $100,000 bilingual ad buy for a new 30-second spot — the second in less than a month — launched this week trying to define herself as someone who fights for the little guy.

“I wasn’t born into politics. I was born into a family that believed in hard work, community, and the idea that if you show up and fight for people, things get better,” Lopez says in the spot. “That’s why I fought in Tallahassee for better housing so working people could afford to stay in Miami. It’s why I pushed to make our quality of life better.

“Now, I’m asking for your trust to keep fighting as your elected Miami-Dade County Commissioner for District 5.”

Money talks. It always has.

But so does history.

Lopez is also one of the very few elected officials in Florida who served time in federal prison after pleading guilty in the 1990s to an honest-services fraud conspiracy involving her tenure on the Lee County Commission. She served 15 months before President Bill Clinton commuted her sentence and a court later vacated the conviction. And Lopez has long argued that she paid her debt to society and rebuilt her life.

Many voters may agree. Others may reasonably wonder whether public trust, once broken, can be rebuilt. We’ll see how many of which there are on Aug. 18.

Read related: Vicki Lopez’s new campaign ads tout her record — leaves out a few things

More recently, Lopez has also faced questions over relatives who obtained jobs connected to BusPatrol after she ushered the state law that allows for the vehicles to be installed the cameras to catch vehicles that illegally pass. Money-making cameras, por supuesto. While there has been no official finding that Lopez violated the law, the incident raised eyebrows and fueled criticism about the appearance of political favoritism, which was familiar territory for her. The Lee County allegations involved voting for the clients of then-boyfriend, lobbyist Sylvester Lukis, who she later married and divorced.

There’s gotta be a Syl and Vicki mini series in the making, right Billy?

Then there’s the Live Local Act. Developers love it. Neighborhoods? Not so much.

Lopez played a leading role in Tallahassee’s effort to pass legislation that dramatically expanded developers’ ability to build housing while limiting local governments’ ability to stand in the way or regulate said housing. Across South Florida, city and county officials have complained that the law has stripped communities of meaningful control over height, density and land-use decisions.

Funny how the same politicians who now promise to protect neighborhoods actually helped write the law many neighborhoods say weakened those protections in the first place.

Only in Miami.

Then we have Joe Sanchez.

If Lopez’s campaign is built on legislative accomplishments, Sanchez’s campaign is built on a badge. Or at least the image of one.

There’s no question Sanchez served honorably with the Florida Highway Patrol. He did. But campaign rhetoric sometimes leaves the impression that his career consisted almost entirely of chasing bad guys down I-95. The fuller story is a little more nuanced.

Read related: ‘Anyone but Joe’ is the mantra among Miami-Dade Sheriff GOP candidates

Much of Sanchez’s later career was spent serving as a spokesman and public information officer for the Florida Highway Patrol, communicating with the media and representing the agency publicly. He also took 11 years off to serve as Miami city commissioner in District 1 (now Miguel Gabela‘s district) and worked for Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez as the “supervisor” of her dignitary protection.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Being the mouthpiece of a law enforcement organization and the supervisor of dignitary services are important jobs. It just isn’t quite the same thing as the image some voters may have been encouraged to see when he ran for sheriff in 2024 and lost in the Republican primary.

Then there is the Marlins stadium. That vote has become the gift that keeps on costing taxpayers.

Sanchez was among the Miami commissioners who approved one of the most criticized public financing deals in South Florida history, committing hundreds of millions of public dollars to what was promised as an economic home run but has instead become shorthand for government negotiating against itself.

Every election cycle, candidates promise they’ll protect taxpayer dollars. Some have longer records to explain than others.

And, finally, there’s Rob Piper. This is his second time around a campaign.

Read related: Leader of Recall Joe Carollo PAC joins Miami Commission race in District 3

Piper doesn’t have millions of dollars. He doesn’t have $100,000. He doesn’t have $10,000. He doesn’t have a long list of endorsements from the political establishment. But the retired Marine is backed the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, the Miami Beach Democratic Club, Coral Gables Democrats and the Miami-Dade Young Democrats.

“At a moment when our county faces a housing affordability crisis, unchecked development, and a growing trust deficit at County Hall, Piper offers what District 5 needs most: a genuine commitment to transparency, accountability, and the everyday people who call this district home,” said the Miami-Dade Democratic Party in a statement.

Know what else Piper doesn’t have? Decades of bad votes to defend.

His campaign is rooted almost entirely in government accountability and his role helping organize in other campaigns. He was also the face behind the unsuccessful 2020 recall effort against former Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, one of Miami’s most polarizing politicians.

Whether that’s enough to convince countywide voters that he can be a good county commissioner remains to be seen. Piper offers a fresh start and the least political baggage — but must still convince voters that being a watchdog translates into being an effective commissioner.

And he couldn’t even convince the voters of Miami District 3 last year, coming in fourth with 11%. Then again, he was running in a far more crowded ticket with former Commissioner Frank Carollo, who lost to newcomer Rolando Escalona, who ended up winning the runoff (praise be) and getting Piper’s endorsement.

Of course, what choice did he have?

Read related: Rolando Escalona picks up two anti-Carollo endorsements in Miami D3 race

But in a race where the other candidates spend as much time explaining yesterday as talking about tomorrow, Piper has a unique luxury: His past isn’t doing most of the talking.

So what exactly is District 5 — which includes Little Havana, downtown, Brickell, Fisher Island, South Beach, parts of Mid-Beach, Silver Bluff, and Shenandoah — choosing?

A commissioner who says she’s reinvented herself after one of the biggest public scandals of her early political career. Or a former commissioner whose résumé will forever include the Marlins stadium vote. Or the outsider betting voters have simply grown tired of choosing between familiar names with familiar baggage and opt for door number 3.

Only in Miami could the “fresh face” in a major county race be the guy whose biggest political accomplishment was helping launch the failed recall of another politician.

Then again, maybe that’s exactly the baggage some voters are looking for.

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