Can Audrey Edmonson Make a Comeback?

There’s no doubt Audrey Edmonson is itching to get back into the political arena. The former Miami-Dade County commissioner appeared ready to shake up the status quo by taking on U.S. Rep Frederica S. Wilson in the upcoming Democratic primary in August.

Now that Edmonson’s backed off that seismic political slugfest by not qualifying for the District 24 congressional race, political observers believe she still has the clout to win an elected office that doesn’t feature a strong, entrenched incumbent. However, history shows that former county commissioners often take a long time to claim another Election Day victory.

In a statement, Edmonson said she opted out of running for Congress because she didn’t want to cause divisions among voters in Wilson’s district, which includes portions of Miramar, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Hialeah, Miami Gardens, North Miami Beach, North Miami, El Portal and Miami. However, Edmonson also made it clear that she’s ready for a comeback, two years after relinquishing her county commission seat due to term limits.

“I am not going anywhere nor ruling out running for office in the near future,” Edmonson said. “I will continue to fight for our families and advocate for issues that matter to us all – from living wages for working families to ensuring our children get the best education possible, to stopping the senseless gun violence plaguing our nation.”

Democratic State Rep. Joe Geller, who’s known Edmonson since her days as mayor of El Portal in the early 2000s, says she was a good, effective county commissioner during her 15-year run that began in 2005, and that during her last two years in office held considerable sway over her colleagues as commission chairwoman.

“I don’t think people forget about you when you have done a good job and you have served them well,” Geller said. “Audrey served her community very well. I think she is well regarded.”

Edmonson will always have name recognition that will make her a formidable candidate for public office, he added.

“If she sees an opportunity to serve the public in future, she will be well disposed to take it,” Geller continued. “I don't see any reason she wouldn't be successful.”

Yet, two years removed from county elected office, Edmonson appeared to be having trouble raising campaign cash to mount a realistic bid against Wilson. According to federal campaign finance reports, Edmonson raised a paltry $3,000 compared to a $273,650 war chest for Wilson.

Edmonson could not drum up campaign contributions in the same manner as when she was still in office, according to a political campaign consultant for county commission races who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly.

“Had Edmonson still been a county commissioner, then she could have raised substantial money,” the consultant said. “I don’t think Audrey is very popular now and I don’t think she can raise money anymore. Whatever juice she had, it evaporated when she left office.”

On the other hand, Wilson is one of the strongest Black elected federal officials in Florida, the consultant said. In addition to her storied career as a Democratic politician that began on the Miami-Dade County Public Schools board in 1992, Wilson founded 5000 Role Models, a nonprofit organization that works with at-risk male youths to encourage and support them in becoming productive members of society.

“Frederica has been a fixture in Miami for decades,” the consultant said. “She is very well liked and has a broad base of support.”

And in Miami’s Black political ecosystem, candidates targeting popular elected officials typically don’t fare well, they said.

“The ‘wait your turn, pay your dues’ sentiment is a lot stronger in the Black community than elsewhere,” said the consultant. “It is rare that an established Black politician gets beat.”

Some of Wilson’s political supporters certainly feel Edmonson was wrong to even think of challenging the congresswoman.

“Instead of coming together, working together, we fight for the limited seats we have,” Miami Gardens Vice Mayor Reggie Leon said. “That is part of the problem we have in the African American community.”

Still, some former county commissioners have found political success after leaving office, although they waited several years before mounting a comeback.

Miami attorney Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, who was a county commissioner from 1993 until 2000 when he unsuccessfully ran for county mayor, found his second wind as a Florida state senator, serving in Tallahassee from 2010 to 2016. After more than a decade serving as the District 11 county commissioner, Joe Martinez ran for Miami-Dade mayor in 2012 and lost. He later reclaimed his old seat in 2016 and was reelected in 2020.

If she wanted to, said Geller, Edmonson could forge a career as an administrative public servant like Jimmy Morales, the county’s chief operations officer. Morales, who served on the county commission for nearly a decade in the late nineties and early 2000s, left politics after losing mayor’s race in 2004. In 2013, the Miami Beach City Commission hired him as city manager, a job he held until 2020 when he accepted his current position in Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s administration.

“I am not suggesting Audrey would be better in that kind of a position than elected office,” Geller explained. “I am saying that the playing field may be a lot larger than one might think. There are a number of elective offices available, but it is not the only way to serve.”

He also thinks Edmonson would also be a great candidate to work in President Joe Biden’s administration. Regardless, her decision not to run against Wilson left her in a better place to accomplish whatever her next move will be, he said.

“By not having engaged in that difficult campaign, it certainly leaves her much better positioned to consider future possibilities than if she had run and not been successful,” Geller said. “It was going to be a difficult campaign against a well-respected incumbent. By not challenging Wilson, it opens up more options for Audrey.”