This is the final installment in Biscayne Times’ series of profiles of Miami mayoral candidates.
Ijamyn Joseph Gray is a long-time community activist; Ken Russell, who represented District 2 on the city commission, has been out of office since 2022; and June Savage is a real estate developer who has never held public office.
Ijamyn Joseph Gray
(Courtesy Ijaymin Joseph Gray)
Community activist Ijamyn Joseph Gray
Ijamyn Joseph Gray, 45, has experienced everything the city has to offer. That includes incarceration in his 20s and a bout of homelessness after Hurricane Irma in 2017.
For Gray, who was born and raised in Coconut Grove, the housing crisis tops his list of concerns. Gray says the city’s misunderstanding and misapplication of area median income is leaving many neighborhoods behind. He also points to inadequate police presence, storm drainage issues, transportation access for the elderly and the need for historic preservation.
At the core of his campaign is youth empowerment.
“I believe a better tomorrow starts with our youth today,” said Gray.
He founded an initiative called Encouraging Dreamers Breaking Barriers, which employs young people, some from troubled backgrounds, through his car wash business. The program pays $15 an hour and has secured city contracts, including one to clean police vehicles.
“You once put us in the back of your cars,” Gray said, referencing police-community relations. “Now we get a chance to detail your cars.”
Gray wants to expand the model across municipalities, hoping it will reshape perceptions and create opportunities.
“If the powers that be truly cared about our communities and our youth, they would be behind me,” he said. “But they haven’t been. Thank you to Mayor Suarez. He has.”
Gray is also campaigning on cultural and historical preservation. He plans to restore grave sites of Miami’s Black pioneers, including Charles Avenue in Coconut Grove and Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, and to uplift landmarks neglected for decades.
“Go look at those things and you just see the difference,” he said. “You can’t even tell who’s buried there.”
Gray says his mayoral run is about second chances and collective progress. In 1999, he was arrested for felony battery on a law enforcement officer and given a year of probation, which he violated, records show. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to four felonies, including carrying a concealed firearm and possession of cocaine with intent to sell. He was sentenced to three years in prison as a habitual felony offender. In 2010, he was arrested for felony habitual driving with license suspended and given one day of probation.
But, he says, he has turned his life around, and indeed back in 2020, his right to vote was restored.
“The power of the people is greater than the people in power,” he said. “Unity is more powerful than an atomic bomb.”
Ken Russell
(Courtesy Ken Russell)
Former Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell
After two years away from public office, former Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell, 51, is back and aiming high.
“I wasn't looking to become the mayor of Miami,” said Russell. “Who would want to be the captain of the Titanic, right? You see things going south. You see bad behavior. You see wasteful spending. I realized if I'm going to make a difference, I need to be involved and really jump in with both feet.”
Russell hopes to start patching the holes in the City of Miami's sinking ship and steer it toward major structural reform.
“I want to come back and really make big reformative changes,” said Russell. “I don't want to come back in and just write more environmental legislation. They could undo that after I leave. I want to come in and amend the charter of the city to encourage good government process and behavior and encourage good people to run for office.”
A key proposal in his reform agenda is to expand the Miami City Commission from five to nine seats.
“The power should rest with the residents and local business owners, not the elected officials,” said Russell. “A larger commission will really help increase accountability and local representation.”
He argues that five commissioners hold too much power, allowing small factions to dominate critical decisions. Expanding the commission, he says, would improve accountability and give neighborhoods like Coconut Grove and downtown stronger voices in city government.
Russell is also focused on addressing Miami’s growing housing crisis.
“Affordable housing has got to be our greatest crisis,” said Russell. “The government has to step in and create the right atmosphere and incentives for the world of development to provide the product that we want.”
His plan uses government tools, such as public land, tax breaks, and zoning incentives to encourage developers to build affordable units without losing profits. He believes the city can provide citizens with cheaper homes by offering these benefits in exchange for affordable housing.
Russell's political career began in 2015 after he discovered that a park in his Coconut Grove neighborhood contained hazardous waste and metals. The city initially planned to cover the toxic soil with clean soil, but Russell pushed for its full removal.
“I didn't really feel that I had a choice,” said Russell. “I was fighting with the city, and I ran for office as a result of that.”
He won in a surprise victory for the District 2 seat, which includes Brickell, Morningside, and portions of Biscayne Boulevard, and was re-elected in 2019.
Now, Russell is campaigning as a reformer and a watchdog for government ethics.
He spoke out against a proposal that would have delayed the election cycle for a year. He testified in the high-profile case involving Commissioner Joe Carollo and Ball & Chain, a Little Havana bar that was under fire from Carollo.
“I’m more offended as a resident of the city, constantly seeing the policy makers take self-serving moves that enrich themselves,” said Russell. “As a candidate, I almost have to thank them for just showing their true colors all the time.”
June Savage
(Courtesy June Savage)
Real estate agent June Savage
June Savage is a longtime Miami real estate agent who has worked from Coconut Grove to Wynwood. She believes her 25 years of experience in real estate give her unique insight into Miami’s growth and its gaps.
“I was born and raised here, so no one knows the diversity more than I do,” Savage said.
Though she wouldn’t discuss her plans in detail – for fear of being copied, she said – a central tenet of her platform is improving the city’s quality of life by coordinating better communication across districts.
“As a mayor, you do not vote, but you can veto,” Savage said. “What I will be doing is merging conversations between all of the districts to put our minds together… I’m very good at negotiations.”
She adds that her real estate background has enabled her to see that low-income housing stems from discounts that developers get to build certain projects.
“Developers will not get a pass-go with me,” she says.
Savage proposes bringing mobile outreach units to low-income neighborhoods, a concept similar to blood donation vans, to help residents understand their eligibility for loans and housing assistance.
“We have a lot of seniors that can’t even afford food and rent at the same time,” she said.
Though she’s never held elected office, Savage points to her long-standing involvement in the community, including as a former PTA and gifted program president. She’s also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Barnacle Society.
“I’d like to see a new slate for the City of Miami,” she said. “Someone who not only has grown up here and seen the city grow, but who has the experience.”
Former Mayor of Miami Xavier Suarez
Xavier Suarez
Perhaps the best-known mayoral candidate is Xavier Suarez, 76, father of present mayor Francis Suarez.
Xavier Suarez, Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor, served from 1985 to 1993 and then later as a county commissioner. He oversaw the city in some of its most tumultuous times, including during the 1989 Lozano riots, when he was praised for walking the streets, trying to calm the city’s African American population. Some were upset after a Cuban American police officer shot and killed an unarmed Black man.
His legacy is mixed, though. He was heavily criticized for issuing a proclamation in honor of Yahweh ben Yahweh, a cult figure convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. He was also termed Mayor Loco by Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen after showing up at an unhappy citizen’s home late at night. She pulled a gun.
As of press time, Suarez has not announced his campaign platform.