2 Miami-Dade Political Allies Vie For New Jobs In November

MIAMI, FL — With little more than a month to go before the November election, two longtime political allies from Miami-Dade County are vying for new jobs.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban L. Bovo, Jr. is vying to become the next mayor of Florida's most populous county in his runoff against Daniella Levine Cava while current mayor Carlos Gimenez hopes to upset incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in Florida's 26th Congressional District after winning the Republican primary.

Patch caught up with both Bovo and Gimenez during their recent appearance at Brightline's groundbreaking for a planned Aventura station.

"I think that the campaign now goes into a realm of common sense," Bovo told Patch during the interview. "We talk to our residents about county services."

Though the mayor's post is nonpartisan, Bovo is a conservative Republican while Levine Cava is a Democrat.

"We talk to them about what makes sense for them. How do we take the dollars that they pay in property taxes, and how do we invest it, and are we doing it the right way," Bovo said of his strategy. "Are we providing them the service that they expect? My campaign from day one is speaking to this issue about police, fire, water and sewer, park programming."

He said the coronavirus pandemic has figured prominently into the campaign.

"We’re all campaigning in a different kind of way," Bovo said. "I think what it speaks
to now is which one of us going to be better suited to help reopen our economy,
and do it in a way where we’re all safe and sound. That’s going to be part of
the campaign now. How do we address COVID-19, and more importantly the economic
recovery of COVID-19?"

Bovo, who chairs the commission's transportation and finance committee, said it is critical the county's 2.8 million residents get access to expanded transportation options.

"We’re all dependent on cars in Miami-Dade County. That’s the way we’ve developed," he said.

Bovo believes Brightline's planned Aventura station will be a game changer for residents.

"You are going to see an energizing of the entire corridor," he told Patch. "I predict that you are going to see something to a certain degree —maybe not to this grandeur — but you’re going to see something in North Miami Beach, North Miami, city of Miami and that is going to change the whole dynamic of this corridor of
transportation perhaps. We can probably give people an option to get out their cars."

Gimenez, who is term limited as mayor, told Patch he wants to address a different set of issues in Washington, D.C. than he has dealt with as mayor.

"In anywhere I’ve ever been, I’ve always left that organization better than
when I got it," he said. "The reason I want to run for Congress is for my children and my
grandchildren. I want to make sure that we leave them a better country than we have today."

Born in Cuba, Gimenez accuses his opponent of favoring a socialist approach to government.

"I left Cuba because of socialism, and I certainly don’t want any part of that to be here in the United States," he asserted. "I’m running to bring prosperity back, restore our economy. I want to make sure that we protect our health care. I want to make sure we protect the environment, but again I want to make sure that we restore our economy and give people good paying jobs."

As mayor, Gimenez presided over the county's response to the coronavirus pandemic, which is considered the epicenter of Florida's outbreak along with nearby Broward and Palm Beach counties.

"I know that there is a lot of work and lot of progress has been made toward a vaccine," he said. "I would hope and expect that by this time next year, the coronavirus will be behind us."

He said he is better suit to find ways to stimulate the economy than his opponent.

"The issues I want to tackle in Congress is restoring the greatest economy that we’ve seen in our lifetime, so we can put Americans back to work," he asserted. "Once you have a robust economy, there’s so many things that we can do restoring, making sure that we fund our military, making sure that we have adequate health care that is affordable to all Americans, making sure that we protect our environment."

Without a strong economy, he said, officials will be limited in what they can do to help struggling Americans.

"My number one priority is restoring our economy," he insisted. "Once you do that, then there’s so many other things that we can do for America."

He acknowledged he hasn't been able to campaign as much as he would have liked because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I’m running unfortunately against a very — I believe an extreme leftist — in
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, one of the most divisive, partisan members of Congress," Gimenez said. "I will be a completely different voice in Congress. I have demonstrated here that I can work across the aisle and get things done. She hasn’t. I think that
works in my favor. She has more (resources) than I do, but by the same token, I’ve got a much higher name recognition than she does."