On this Wednesday, Aug. 19, episode of Sundial:
Miami-Dade County’s Primary Election Results
In a very close mayoral race that was tallied late into the evening, Commissioners Esteban Bovo and Daniella Levine Cava secured the top votes needed to face off in the general election.
“We had an extraordinary turnout that was recently unprecedented for a primary,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava. “We had an extraordinarily high rate of new voters who don’t normally vote in primaries. My support comes from people who are ready for change, who don’t want to go backwards.”
In total, nearly 29 percent of registered voters participated in the August primary election in Miami-Dade, that’s up from 20 percent during the primaries four years ago. A record number of voters also utilized the state’s vote by mail system, accounting for 62% of the votes in the Mayoral election.
We spoke with Daniella Levine Cava, as well as with the Miami Herald’s political reporter David Smiley, about the outcomes of Miami-Dade’s mayoral, county commission and state attorney races. We invited Commissioner Esteban Bovo onto the program as well and he plans to join us Monday.
Palm Beach and Broward Primary Election Results
Broward voters had a record turnout, with 75 percent of voters choosing to vote by mail. The key races in the county included the Broward Sheriff’s race, public defender, State Attorney and school board.
Changes are expected to come to the county’s criminal justice system as four Black candidates claimed victories for offices last night. Incumbent Gregory Tony was able to hold on to his seat following an extremely close race with former Sheriff Scott Israel.
“This was the most watched race in Broward County,” said WLRN’s Broward County reporter Caitie Switalski. “The vast majority of this campaign between Scott Israel and Gregory Tony was a lot of mailers, personal attacks, it was not a clean campaign.”
We spoke with Switalski about Broward County’s primary elections, as well as with WLRN'S Palm Beach County reporter Wilkine Brutus to look at some of the races from Palm Beach County.
Grifter’s Club
During his time in office, President Donald J. Trump has made many trips to Mar-a-Lago. The visits to his Palm Beach resort and golf club have also included important business negotiations and policy discussions with foreign diplomats.
The new book Grifter’s Club: Trump, Mar-a-Lago, and the Selling of the Presidency explores who was given access to the President and the issue of security on the club’s premises.
“The club doesn’t even employ enough security guards to man each entrance to its club,” said the Miami Herald’s Sarah Blaskey. “There are so many different ways to walk up the beach, people have taken the boat up to a sea wall. This is what makes it a real nightmare to secure for the Secret Service.”
We spoke with Blaskey and Nicholas Nehamas, who co-wrote the book along with fellow Miami Herald reporters Jay Weaver and Caitlin Ostroff.
