New Faces in Municipal Races

A red wave washed over the state of Florida last month as Republican incumbents Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis won re-election to their respective seats.

Local nonpartisan races, on the other hand, don’t grant constituents the clearly divided party lines by which to acquaint themselves with candidates. As such, here is an introduction to some political newcomers throughout the Biscayne corridor.

Aventura

Magazine co-founder and editorial director Amit Bloom took the last remaining commission seat in Aventura’s municipal election this year, joining the newly elected mayor, Howard Weinberg, and commissioners Paul Kruss and Michael Stern at the swearing-in ceremony last month.

Bloom and Stern have worked side-by-side for nearly 25 years as founding partners of Stern Bloom Media Inc., a 22-year publisher of monthly lifestyle publication AVENTURA Magazine.

Bloom beat out Alberto Zaltzberg, a marketing professional, with just short of 72% of the vote.

Bal Harbour

Attorney David Wolf became Bal Harbour’s newest councilmember after he outperformed his opponent, Neca Logan, with nearly 70% of the vote. Both Logan and Wolf have been standing board members of the village’s Budget Advisory Committee.

Wolf assumed the seat to represent District 5 after former Mayor Gabriel Groisman stepped down from that position. The council then elected councilman Jeffrey Freimark on Nov. 22 to succeed Groisman as mayor.

Biscayne Park

Veronica Amsler, Jonathan Groth and Veronica Olivera were the top three vote-getters out of six candidates for the Biscayne Park commission’s open seats. The trio beat out incumbents Judi Hamelburg and Daniel Samaria and another candidate, Mario Carozzi.

The new commission will soon be responsible for selecting someone among themselves to succeed Virginia O’Halpin as mayor and Samaria as vice mayor.

Key Biscayne

Former Mayor Joe Rasco is back after 21 years to re-assume his old position on the island of Key Biscayne, beating longtime lobbyist Fausto Gomez 62% to 38%.

In addition, incumbent Ed London, sales and marketing professional Oscar Sardiñas and environmental engineer Fernando Vazquez topped a five-person field for village council during the November election.

Miami Beach

Real estate agent Sabrina Cohen and digital marketing specialist Laura Dominguez will go to a Dec. 6 runoff after receiving the most votes in a race for Miami Beach’s Group 2 commissioner.

The two will battle to fill the seat formerly occupied by Mark Samuelian, who died in June. Dominguez was Samuelian’s life partner, campaign manager and treasurer, and led the November election with 41.39% of the vote.

Cohen, a lifelong disability advocate, trailed behind with 31.31% of votes. She is endorsed by the city’s current mayor, Dan Gelber.

North Bay Village

Goran Cuk won the race for North Bay Village commissioner after his only opponent, Robert McKnight, withdrew from the race in October.

Cuk is an experienced technologist with General Motors, Microsoft, Salesforce and Amazon, who also serves as vice chair for the village’s Financial Advisory Board.

Voters also approved a bond referendum to finance stormwater and roadway improvements that would protect the village from sea-level rise and flooding.

North Miami Beach

Former North Miami Beach Commissioner and Realtor Jay Chernoff beat former Police Sgt. and incumbent Paule Villard in a Nov. 22 runoff for North Miami Beach Group 2 commissioner after the two came in neck and neck in the general election.

Originally separated by just 46 votes with Chernoff in the lead, Chernoff later solidified a win with 53% of the vote in the runoff, winning him the seat next to other newly elected commissioners Fortuna Smukler and Phyllis Smith.

Sunny Isles Beach

The Sunny Isles Beach mayoral race will head to a Dec. 6 runoff after former Mayor Larisa Svechin bagged a narrow lead over incumbent Dana Goldman last month.

Just last year, Goldman ousted then-interim Mayor Svechin in a special election following George Scholl’s resignation. The race was as close then as it is now, with less than one percentage point separating the two candidates in last month’s general election.

Realtor Anita Funtek trailed far behind in third place with only 14% of votes.

Vice Mayor Jeniffer Viscarra also beat out Stephanie Henry, a flight attendant and former investigator, in the race for Seat 4 on the city’s commission.

New to the Biscayne Corridor

Redistricting in the state means even incumbents already well established in Miami-Dade County now have new ground to cover. With Florida’s 24th congressional district expanding eastward from its previous borders, Rep. Frederica Wilson will oversee the island municipalities from Aventura down to Miami Beach following this election cycle.

Wilson, a Democrat, now represents nearly the entire Biscayne corridor. Republican incumbents Mario Diaz-Balart and Maria Salazar hold office in the remaining areas of downtown Miami and Brickell.

At the state level, Democrat Sen. Shevrin Jones now represents District 34, which includes the coastal communities and islands north of the Julia Tuttle Causeway up to North Miami Beach. Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Democrat who previously oversaw Jones’s area, will remain in control of Sunny Isles Beach and Aventura, while Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia’s district has moved eastward to touch downtown Miami, Brickell and Miami Beach.

Also new to the corridor is Republican Fabian Basabe, a stay-at-home father who won the election to represent District 106 in Florida’s House of Representatives. That district newly encompasses the city of Aventura and all of the islands beneath it.