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Vote 2024

A Guide to the Races that Impact Our Future

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Primary elections are upon us Aug. 20 and mail-in voting has started. This guide is intended to help you make sense of things. 

In January, Biscayne Times raised the curtain on 2024 with the headline: “Welcome to a High-Stakes Election Year.”

That puts things mildly in this unprecedented year when Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt and President Biden exited the race to make way for Kamala Harris to run in his stead. Such events only further invite a cold-eyed approach.

So, here’s a quick look at the candidates in the all-important down-ballot primary elections from U.S. Senate to county judge. The aim is to help voters shut out the noise and pay appropriate attention. 

Early voting runs from Aug. 5-18, with hours and locations posted on the Miami-Dade Elections Department website. Election day at your precinct runs from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20. Check out your sample ballot by entering your address at the League of Women Voters website at vote411.org.

If you are reading this in print, we encourage you check out our generously hyperlinked online version at www.biscaynetimes.com to learn more.

If the ballot looks intimidating, here’s an indispensable website worth your attention for nearly any election: www.ballotpedia.org. It is comprehensive, includes links to campaign websites, and was liberally used in assembling this story. Search for 2024 Miami-Dade municipal elections and you will find treasure.

The voting rules are a bit tougher now than in past elections. You now need to request a mail-in ballot after each election cycle. When you show up in person, make sure you have a picture ID with your signature. The voter ID card alone won’t cut it.

Reflecting this peculiar year, each precinct for the first time posts a sign that it is a felony to harass or intimidate voters, poll workers, or poll watchers. Even the Free State of Florida has limits.

Florida is a closed primary state, so you’ll get three different kinds of ballots: Republican, Democrat, or independent, for those with no party affiliation. Many, but not all local elections are nonpartisan.

Here’s the lowdown.

U.S. SENATE

In the U.S. Senate primary, incumbent Republican Senator and former two-term Governor Rick Scott faces John Columbus, a self-described “modern millennial Florida man with a big dream and patriotic spirit,” and Keith Gross of Panama City, a strong America-Firster running to Scott’s right, in the Republican primary. Scott has raised more than $29 million to Gross’ $2.4 million and Columbus’ $12,000.

Former Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is running with the endorsement of President Biden and a number of Democratic former House colleagues. She has raised $12 million. While Scott is favored, in a June Florida Atlantic University poll, he was ahead of Mucarsel-Powell 45%-43%, in or near the margin of error. She faces three primary challengers:  Stanley Campbell has the endorsement of the AFL-CIO and the Florida Black Caucus. She was narrowly defeated after one House term in 2020 by former County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who now represents newly redrawn District 28.

U.S. HOUSE

District 24 incumbent Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson has no primary challengers for District 24, a heavily Democratic district encompassing most of the Biscayne corridor. However, two Republicans are duking it out in the primary: newcomer Patricia Gonzalez and business owner Jesus G. Navarro, who is running on a Trump-friendly agenda of a border wall, energy independence, and term limits for all elected officials.  Wilson beat Navarro with 71.8% of the vote in 2022.

District 27, an increasingly reddish-purple district, includes the southern tip of the Biscayne corridor, from downtown Miami west to the Florida Turnpike and south to Cutler Bay. In the Republican primary, incumbent Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar,  who narrowly beat former University of Miami President and Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala in the 2020 upset election, is facing Royland Lara, though Lara has reported no contributions.

Lucia Baez-Geller, who currently represents District 3 on the Miami-Dade Public Schools Board and former Republican Mike Davey are running in the Democratic primary.

STATE HOUSE AND SENATE

There are no primaries for Florida Senate District 34 or District 37. District 34 Democratic State Sen. Shevrin Jones, whose district covers most of the Biscayne corridor, was unchallenged and will serve until November 2026. District 37’s Jason Pizzo, who serves the corridor’s northeastern corner up through the Broward coastline, has no primary challenger and will face Imtiaz Mohammad Nov. 5.

The Florida House is a different matter.

District 106, which includes nearly all of Miami-Dade east of US 1 from Keystone Point to the Broward line, Republican incumbent Rep. Fabián Basabe faces a primary challenge from Melinda Almonte, a lawyer and business consultant. The winner will advance to the general election to face Democrat Joe Saunders, who represented District 49 from 2022-24.

District 107, which covers the northern part of the corridor west of US 1 and some areas of North Miami Beach to the east, is a wide-open free-for-all. Incumbent Rep. Christopher Benjamin is leaving to run for county judge in the Aug. 20 primary. With no Republican primary, the following candidates are competing: Wallace Aristide, former principal of Miami Northwestern Senior High and former District 2 county commission candidate; Loreal Arscott, a lawyer with extensive community involvement; Monique Barley-Mayo, a business development consultant and 2022 first-time candidate for Miami-Dade mayor; and Wancito Francius, a security firm entrepreneur and longtime community activist; small business owner Christine Alexandria Olivo; and Faudlin Pierre, a civil rights lawyer.

District 108 covers most of the central part of the corridor. Dotie Joseph won re-election outright after the Democratic primary and general election were canceled in this safe Democratic district.

District 109, which includes Liberty City, extends eastward to include the corridor’s southern tip from the middle of Edgewater through downtown. Incumbent Rep. Ashley Gantt, who took office in November 2022, faces challenges from her two-term predecessor James Bush III, who served District 109 from 2018-22, and Roy Hardemon, who represented District 108 from 2016-2018. A member of Liberty City’s prominent Hardemon family, he is District 3 County Commissioner Keon Hardemon’s uncle. Read more about this race in The Miami Times.

MIAMI-DADE ELECTIONS

Pay close attention to these. As two other in-depth stories this Biscayne Times edition report, three candidates are vying for Miami-Dade County Commission in District 3, including the incumbent and its previous inhabitant. The other big story is the sheriff race. Miami-Dade voters haven’t elected a sheriff since 1966 and the number of candidates running is dizzying.

Voters also face electing a supervisor of elections and a tax collector for the first time, following the successful 2018 statewide referendum requiring all Florida counties to elect those offices by Jan. 7, 2025.

Here’s more on some key races:

Mayor

Incumbent Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is facing challenges from Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid, who is endorsed by Miami Young Republicans, and rightwing Cuban-American actor and podcaster Alex Otaola. Also running are former Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger, Cuban-American actor and presenter Carlos Garin, Miguel Quintero, and Eddy Rojas. 

If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the two top vote-getters will face each other in November. By July 4, Levine Cava had raised $5 million, and just thereafter received a $500,000 donation from hedge fund billionaire and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, who has also given more than $20 million to Republican fundraising committees and has been in talks over supporting Donald Trump. While the race is nonpartisan, Levine Cava is a prominent Democrat, has allied herself with Democratic candidates, and is playing to break the 50% mark and thus win outright Aug. 20.

Supervisor of Elections

This race demands particular attention, in this state famous for its hanging chads in 2000 with the attendant “Brooks Brothers riot” to stop the counting.

The current supervisor of elections, Christina White, has been with the well-regarded and professional Miami-Dade Elections Department for 18 years and one month, eight years as supervisor. A self-described public servant rather than a politician, she chose not to run.

Three Democrats are running: lobbyist Willis Howard, Juan-Carlos Planas, a lawyer and eight-year representative for District 115, and digital entrepreneur Arnold Weiss. Planas has been endorsed by the SEIU, the South Florida AFL-CIO, and State Sen. Jason Pizzo. As a digital entrepreneur, Weiss says he provides technical know-how to improve efficiency and back-end election operations.

The Republican Primary has been canceled and current District 115 Rep. Alina Garcia will advance to face the Democratic winner in the general election.

Tax Collector

Hialeah City Councilman  Bryan Calvo and small business entrepreneur Dariel Fernandez are facing each other in the Republican primary. The winner will face Democrat David Richardson Nov. 5.

Property Appraiser

Look for this race in November with 20-year state property appraiser and Democrat Marisol Zenteno running against former broadcast journalist and Republican former Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. The trouble is, Regalado announced his intentions last year to run for Miami Mayor again in 2025 when Francis Suarez leaves office. Confused? We are too.  

Judges

Judicial races are nonpartisan, with three primary races on the ballot: one for circuit, and two for county.

Two candidates are squaring off for Circuit Judge Group 8.  Former Circuit Judge Jason Bloch, who served from 2014-17, is running to reclaim his seat. He is challenged by Bonita Jones-Peabody, an assistant public defender for the last 20 years, more recently in a supervising role.

Two candidates are running for Circuit Judge Group 29: Heloiza Correa, a former prosecutor-turned-commercial litigator, and Cristobal Padron, a family lawyer and commercial litigator.

Three contenders are running for the County Judge Group 29 seat: District 107 Rep.

Christopher Benjamin, former Miami-Dade County Judge Scott Janowitz, and 25-year attorney Alina Salcines Restrepo.

Two candidates are running Group 31: incumbent Christopher Green, appointed by Gov. DeSantis in December 2022 to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Elijah Levitt, and Rita Maria Baez, a civil litigator with nearly 30 years’ experience.

For more information on judicial races, consult The Florida Bar website at floridabar.org, which provides voluntary statements by candidates for circuit and county judicial positions.

REFERENDUMS

At the end of the ballot, all Miami-Dade voters face two issues. The first is a non-binding "yes or no" straw ballot item on whether the county needs to expand its existing rapid mass-transit system and the second is a referendum to approve construction of a fire station in Miami Beach.  

Watch for six constitutional amendment provisions in November, requiring 60% super majorities of Florida voters to pass. Particularly prominent are Amendment 3, permitting adult personal use of marijuana and Amendment 4, limiting government interference on abortion and thereby affirming a woman's right to choose.

SCHOOL BOARD 

District 3 runs along Biscayne Bay and the coast from Aventura to parts of Coconut Grove. Five candidates are running for this nonpartisan seat left open by the departure of Lucia Baez-Geller to run as a Democrat for the 27th Congressional district. They are former state Rep. Joseph Geller (no relation to Lucia), an attorney and perennial Democratic figure; Dr. Martin Karp, a longtime educator and current dean of a consortium of Jewish schools, who served 16 years on the school board until 2020, four as vice chair; Brent Latham, North Bay Village mayor and champion for greater community collaboration and "keeping divisive politics out of our schools";  Gustavo Ortega, a special education teacher and advocate of universal pre-school and special needs children; and Hayley Ross, a teacher and advocate for parental rights, school choice, and focusing on the basics who is active in Republican circles.

While the primary is nonpartisan, Florida voters on November 5 will vote on Amendment 1, in which a "yes" vote by a 60% supermajority would make school board elections partisan. In May, Dr. Karp switched his affiliation from Republican to No Party Affiliation.  Geller has received the endorsement of United Teachers of Dade. 

This story was updated from the print edition to reflect the addition of the District 3 school board race that was inadvertently omitted.  

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