Hialeah has a new mayor, and his name is Bryan Calvo.
Calvo, 27, made history Tuesday night as the city's youngest mayor. He beat his opponents, both of whom had years of experience on the city council and in Hialeah government, by more than 5,000 votes. Calvo garnered more than 52% of the vote on election night, securing his victory in the mayoral race without a runoff.
Calvo’s victory marks a change of guard, as his two frontrunner opponents were closely tied with the previous Mayor, whom Calvo often sparred with during his time on the city council.
As a councilman, Calvo launched an investigation into the city's lack of 911 call responders, and sued then-Mayor Esteban Bovo for allegedly blocking his public records requests. His lawsuit was unsuccessful.
READ MORE: South Florida heads to the polls on Election Day
Calvo's electoral win comes after a heated campaign cycle that saw multiple scandals related to candidates’ home properties dragged into the light.
Jackie Garcia-Roves, the current interim mayor of Hialeah, came in third place with less than 20% of the vote, according to preliminary election results.
Garcia-Roves was appointed after Bovo, the previous mayor, left office in April for a job in Washington, D.C. She was recently revealed to have made multiple illegal additions onto her Hialeah home without securing permits.
According to the Miami Herald, Garcia-Roves was fined by the city’s code department for an unpermitted awning, columns, fence and a re-roofing. The interim mayor responded to initial questions about this by claiming it was “fake news” and that she made no additions to her home.
However, following the Herald’s reporting, Garcia-Roves’ home nearly doubled in size on the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser’s website. The property listing went from a three-bedroom, one bath to a four-bedroom, two-bath home.
Calvo had his own share of property scandal when it was revealed during the campaign that his family home had a senior citizen tax benefit that his parents were not entitled to.
The Calvo family had to pay upwards of $5,000 in back taxes and penalties when the error was discovered. Calvo said the exemption was a mistake, and he was not aware of the error.
The runner up in the mayoral race was Jesus Tundidor, who secured just over 20% of the vote. He is a current city councilman who advocated for affordable housing during his campaign, and while serving on the council. He will relinquish his seat because of Florida's resign to run law.
Calvo has a bachelor's degree from Harvard, and is an alum of Westland Hialeah High School.
Hialeah voters also reelected two councilmembers: Melinda De la Vega and Luis Rodriguez.
De la Vega beat her opponent, fellow councilmember Juan Junco, by about 20 percentage points. Rodriguez won a tighter race against attorney Abdel Jimenez, securing about 57% versus Jimenez's 43%.
The other two council races for Groups III and IV will go to a runoff in December, as none of the council candidates got more than 50% of the vote.
