West Miami Mayor Eric Diaz-Padron secured another four years in office Tuesday, repelling a challenge from former City Manager Yolanda Aguilar in a contest that featured more civility than fireworks.
With the city’s lone precinct reporting, Diaz-Padron had 70.8% of the vote to win re-election. He’ll return to City Hall alongside sitting Commissioners Gustavo Ceballos, Juan Blanes, and Commissioner-elect Victoria De la Torre, who defeated one opponent each for Seats 1, 2 and 4, respectively, on the West Miami Commission.
Ceballos defeated George Lavin with 74.6% of the vote, while Blanes outpaced Fermin Belleau with a 71.4% share of ballots cast. De La Torre, meanwhile, won against Elsa Pelaez-Lopez by a nearly 42-percentage-point margin.
Diaz-Padron, Ceballos and Blanes all won four-year terms.
De La Torre, who competed in a Special Election, secured a two-year term.
A 31-year-old lawyer, real estate broker and son of former Mayor Carlos Diaz-Padron, Diaz-Padron sought this cycle to continue the momentum he says he’s been building since first winning the mayoralty in 2022 with 64% of the vote.
His campaign leaned on his record of lowering property taxes, improving public safety and investing in infrastructure and amenities.
Diaz-Padron pointed to what he describes as the fastest police response times in Miami-Dade County, along with new parks, traffic-calming measures and cleaner neighborhoods. He defended fee increases enacted during his tenure, arguing they were necessary after years without adjustments and helped address issues such as underbilling.
“West Miami keeps improving because we’re focused on real results for our families, lowering taxes, investing in our community, and strengthening our financial reserves,” he said in a statement. “We’ve come a long way and the best is still ahead.”
Aguilar, 69, brought a markedly different profile. A West Miami resident since 1971, she spent 40 years in public service, including nearly three decades as City Manager before leaving the post in 2023.
Now a government consultant, she ran on her experience inside City Hall and a message focused on transparency and fiscal discipline.
Aguilar called Diaz-Padron a “decent young man” in an interview with Political Cortadito, but she sharply criticized the incumbent’s leadership, arguing West Miami has seen excessive spending and rising fees under his watch, compounded by what she characterized as insufficient long-term planning.
She warned that those trends could jeopardize financial stability if left unchecked.
“My vision is rooted in restoring trust, transparency, and responsive leadership,” Aguilar said on her campaign website.
If elected, she said she would prioritize efficient city services, support for police and efforts to secure outside funding for improvements.
Finance reporting records on the city’s website show Diaz-Padron raised $41,450 and spent $33,000 by April 2 through his campaign account. He raised another $50,000 this cycle and spent about $32,000 through his political committee, Do Better.
He also won endorsements from the Florida Police Benevolent Association and Metro-Dade Firefighters Local 1403.
Aguilar raised more than $67,000 and spent about $46,500 through her campaign account as of early April. Her endorsers included former Mayor and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham and the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police District 6.
City Commission
In the Seat 1 race, Ceballos sought to hold onto a City Commission post he took last year to replace fellow Republican Natalie Milian Orbis, who was appointed to the Miami-Dade County Commission last May.
A 40-year-old who works by day as an Assistant City Attorney in Coral Gables, Ceballos touted a record of prioritizing public safety, lowering taxes, strengthening city finances and investing in parks and community programs to support families.
He emphasized his experience in municipal issues and commitment to responsible growth, transparency and maintaining West Miami’s quality of life.
Lavin, a 54-year-old Democratic consultant who enjoyed support from the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, ran on a promise to increase government transparency, expand public access to City Hall and strengthen community services.
He proposed new online tools for citizen engagement and budget tracking, while supporting public safety, small businesses and continued investment in infrastructure, parks and programs for seniors and families.
Lavin raised about $4,700 and spent $1,700 by April 2. Ceballos amassed close to $29,000 and spent nearly $14,000 through his campaign account by April 2.
For Seat 2, Blanes, 67, hoped to repel a challenge from Belleau, a fellow Republican 11 years his junior.
A retired fire captain, Blanes ran a campaign highlighting his public service experience. Since winning office, he said, he’s improved residents’ quality of life through public safety, stronger city services, infrastructure upgrades, lower taxes and maintaining solid financial reserves.
Belleau ran a quieter campaign and apparently did not have an official website.
They were neck-and-neck in terms of fundraising, with Blanes raising $1,500 and spending $1,300 and Belleau raising $1,350 and spending $687 by early April.
In the race for Seat 4, De La Torre, a Republican health care executive who previously served on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board, faced Pelaez-Lopez, a banking executive with no party affiliation.
De La Torre, who will replace Commissioner Luciano Suarez, ran on a platform focused on maintaining public safety, preserving community spaces, keeping taxes low and ensuring fiscally responsible decisions to protect West Miami’s quality of life.
Pelaez-Lopez’s platform centered on financial transparency, fiscal discipline and responsible development, with a focus on lowering fees, improving city services and addressing flooding.
She also prioritized protecting West Miami’s small-town character and ensuring accountable, resident-focused leadership.
De La Torre, 40, raised $10,000 and spent more than $6,000. Pelaez-Lopez, 64, outraised and outspent her by more than twofold, stacking $23,500 and spending $19,500 with less than two weeks before Election Day.
West Miami is a relatively small municipality of roughly 8,500 residents, an overwhelming share of whom are of Hispanic origin. In the 2022 election, the most recent year voters weighed in on city races, less than a quarter of the city’s 3,829 voters at the time (934) cast ballots.