The results from Tuesday's municipal elections in some areas of South Florida are in. We have summarized them so you can catch up with what happened in a glance.
In the race to fill the District 1 seat, former state senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla and auto parts retailer Miguel-Angel Gabela will go to a runoff election on November 19.
They both received the most votes in a seven-person field, but neither received more than 50%, a requirement to win the election outright, according to the Miami Herald.
That district includes Allapattah, Grapeland Heights, the Health District around Jackson Memorial Hospital and a bit of Flagami near Blue Lagoon.
In District 2, incumbent Ken Russell easily won reelection, capturing about 59% of the vote. That dictrict is home to some of Miami-Dade County’s most valuable real estate, it includes Miami's waterfront communities from Coconut Grove to Morningside, including downtown and Brickell.
Voters in Miami Beach will be back at the polls to elect their leaders. None of the 12 candidates made the cut in total votes to win any of the three City Commission seats, meaning all three races will go to a runoff.
But voters there did agree on something. The proposed pay raise for city commissioners and the mayor was rejected. The salary hike would've increased the earnings for those positions by 650%.
In Hialeah, voters unseated Lourdes Lozano, the city council races’ only incumbent in Group 1. She had been a council member since 2011 and was running for her third term, but fell short with 41.67% or 4,948 votes. Mónica Pérez, who is an elementary school teacher and has no prior political experience, won that seat with 58.33% or 6,927 votes..
No candidate in the races for seats in Group 2 and Group 3 received more than 50% of the votes that means they will be headed to a runoff on November 19.
In Group 2, Luis González, who had 31.97% or 4,015 votes will face off against Jesus Tundidor with 28.08% or 3,526 votes.
González is a former city council member, who is supported by Carlos Hernández, the city’s Cuban-born mayor. Tundidor is the former vice chair of the city’s planning and zoning board.
In Group 3, Jaqueline Garcia-Roves and community activist Milagros “Milly” Herrera will go against each other in the runoff.
Garcia-Roves is backed by Mayor Hernández, she finished with 42.05% or 4,975 votes. Herrera had 22.86% or 2,704 votes.
Among others, voters in Hialeah rejected an amendment that would have given their mayor the authority to declare a state of emergency after a disaster and allowed the city to spend an infinite amount of funds on cleanup without approval from the City Council for up to three months, as reported by the Miami Herald.
