Robaina, Gimenez in runoff for Miami-Dade mayor
The race to be the next Miami-Dade County mayor is down to two, after voters threw their support behind former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and former County Commissioner Carlos Gimenez but failed to give either candidate more than 50 percent of the votes required to crown a winner.
The election — which was voters’ first crack at remaking the leadership of Miami-Dade County’s much-maligned county government — now sets the stage for a month-long campaign between the two candidates that will culminate June 28.
From the start, Robaina and Gimenez were pegged as frontrunners among 11 candidates in the short sprint of a campaign that didn’t officially start until last month, following the March 15 ouster of county mayor Carlos Alvarez by an overwhelming margin.
With all precincts reporting, Robaina won 62,829 votes or 34 percent, and Gimenez garnered 53,803 votes, or 29 percent.
At campaign rallies Tuesday night both candidates immediately pledged to throw themselves into what promises to be a spirited runoff campaign.
Robaina, who raised $1.2 million — the only candidate to surpass the $1 million mark — took the stage with his wife and three oldest sons at the historic Hialeah race track after former congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart introduced him as the next county mayor.
“Can I count on you?” Robaina, who has promised to deliver added reforms along with jump-starting the local economy, asked the crowd of more than 200 people. The candidate said he would ask others to join his team and “be part of the orange shirts.” The former mayor added that he was “very, very positive” with his numbers Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Robaina had held out hope for more — namely, surpassing 50 percent to secure victory. Speaking at Milander Park in the heart of Hialeah before the results starting streaming in, he said, “I would hope there’s not another election coming up, that we can finish today.”
Gimenez pulled into the parking lot of the Sabor de España restaurant in Coral Gables Tuesday night in a blue Ford pickup to a jubilant crowd of about 250 people who erupted into applause and chants of “Gimenez! Gimenez!”
His shoulders slightly hunched, a grinning Gimenez repeated his campaign themes of bringing back honesty and integrity to county government.
“They outraised us 3 to 1, they were unbeatable. No, uh-uh,” said Gimenez, who raised $450,018. “We’ve come a long way, but we’re going to finish what we’ve started. Tomorrow we start to work.”
Over the past month and a half, the 11 candidates sought to tap into that voter discontent by portraying themselves as best suited to right-size and redirect a government charged with important responsibilities like running Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami, but widely viewed as bloated, inefficient and, at times, corrupt.
The field included a host of political novices who shared a mutual frustration with county government. But immediate name recognition or political experience, along with a knack for quickly raising money, proved to be prerequisites in a race that provided so little time for newcomers to connect with voters.
Trailing behind the two front-runners: former state legislator Marcelo Llorente, with 27,699 votes, or 15 percent, and Luther “Luke” Campbell, the former front man for 2 Live Crew, who won 20,663 votes, or 11 percent.
None of the other candidates eclipsed four percent.
For his part, Llorente issued a statement saying, “Although our campaign came up short tonight, I remain undeterred in my efforts to bring real reform to the community we call home.” He urged voters to remain engaged in the run-off phase of the campaign, saying the “future of our community rests with the residents taking charge of County Hall.”
Campbell, speaking at the Palm Gardens restaurant in Miami Gardens, said the campaign was initially viewed as a joke but people now take him seriously.
“This is just an appetizer. This is just the beginning,” said Campbell, who added that next month’s winner will still have to face voters in the regularly scheduled election next year.
“We can still run in 2012 and win this thing,” Campbell said.
Yet, illustrating voters’ lack of enthusiasm for the candidates, more people cast ballots to recall Alvarez two months ago than to pick his replacement now.
In March, 209,312 votes were cast to oust Alvarez, in a vote that also recalled former county commissioner Natacha Seijas, while 186,639 went to the polls this time around.
Underscoring the low turnout, slightly more voted this time around than in the 2008 race between Alvarez and Helen B. Williams, which garnered extremely light voter attention because Alvarez was the presumptive winner before voting started. In that race, 176,372 people voted. Meanwhile, far more people — 290,007 — voted in the August 2004 county mayoral contest, which included eight candidates, than in the Tuesday race that included nearly a dozen.
Significant voter unhappiness — along with a distrust of current leadership — was illustrated in a poll nearly two weeks ago in which 44 percent of voters said the current field was unsatisfactory, against 33 percent who said they were satisfactory, according to a survey by Bendixen & Amandi International for The Miami Herald and its news partners.
But perhaps more remarkable: 71 percent of respondents in the poll said they could not think of a single leader in Greater Miami they can trust.
“I thought the recall was unnecessary but now that it’s here it’s voters’ duty to get out here and vote,” said Bruno Lopez, 29, after voting Tuesday morning at the St. Augustine Catholic Church in Coral Gables, in which about 20 people trickled in over the course of an hour.
“I’m disappointed with the low turnout. Everyone came out for the recall, yet we don’t come out to elect our next leader.”
The recall election and the ensuing two elections are slated to cost taxpayers somewhere between $12 to $15 million. Lester Sola, the county’s Supervisor of Elections, said the March 15 recall election cost about $4.2 million — a bit lower than pre-election estimates. “We’re hopeful this election will be in the same range as that,” Sola said.
In the campaign Robaina and Gimenez each held themselves out as the candidate best able to hit the ground running for an office that will require the winner to immediately take the reins.
By July 15, roughly two weeks after the late June election, a budget — which was $7.5 billion a year ago — must be presented to the county commission. And all 10 labor contracts for the county’s employee unions expire at the end of September. Meanwhile, the county-run safety net hospital, Jackson Health System, is in crisis and the county’s beleaguered transit agency remains mired in a dispute with the federal government.
Gimenez has touted his years as Miami’s city manager and fire chief. Robaina has trumpeted his tenure as mayor of Hialeah, the second-biggest city in Miami-Dade County after Miami. Both have promised to take a hard-line with the county employee unions and reduce the size of the government.
But to win next month, both candidates must build upon the base of support they’ve assembled thus far by swaying constituents from other campaigns and energizing voters who sat out this election.
Robaina has proven very successful at revving up his base of Hispanic and Republican voters from his stronghold in Hialeah, though an ongoing federal criminal investigation into his finances has raised concerns among some voters. Meanwhile, Gimenez’s support doesn’t appear as deep among specific voter groups but is broader.
Just as Robaina said he will try broaden his support, Gimenez went out of his way Tuesday night to praise Llorente, Campbell and Jose “Pepe” Cancio, the former county commissioner and business executive who won 5,322 votes, or 3 percent.
Regarding Llorente, whose voters will be critical for the next county mayor, Gimenez told supporters Tuesday night, “He had a great run” and “will be a great future leader.” He similarly praised Campbell, who polled strongly among black voters.
Those casting their votes at Hialeah Miami-Lakes Senior High were split on who should be the next mayor.
“Gimenez has the experience and the ideas that this county needs,” said Leonardo Mainera, a 59-year-old refrigerator technician. “In the past, the elected officials have lacked the accountability over the county expenses and they’ve had absurd payrolls.”
Nury Gomez, an accountant and 20-year Hialeah resident, picked Robaina.
“He was great in Hialeah and I admire him and what he has done for my community,” she said.