Hialeah Mayor-elect Bryan Calvo achieved a key political victory Tuesday night as both candidates he endorsed in the city council runoff election won their races, giving him a strong foundation as he prepares to take office on Jan. 12.
Calvo backed Gelien Perez for Seat 3 and William “Willy” Marrero for Seat 4, supporting the city’s most established candidates, even though he ran as anti-establishment mayoral candidate. Perez defeated Jessica Castillo, a political newcomer with an anti-establishment platform, while Marrero overcame Javier Morejon, a land-use specialist focused on city services and infrastructure.
Perez, who in the general election campaigned as part of the mayoral slate of Councilman Jesus Tundidor — Calvo’s opponent — nonetheless earned Calvo’s support in the runoff. She won Seat 3 with 79.8% of the vote. Castillo, who ran on an anti-MAGA message and emphasized immigrant advocacy, finished with 20%.
After her victory, Perez, 35, who was born in Cuba, described the win as “a beautiful opportunity to better serve Hialeah’s residents.” She told the Miami Herald she wants to focus on giving relief to residents on their water and sewer bills, whose rising costs have become one of the biggest complaints in the city.
“We have to look at what is the problem. What is causing those high bills, and we have to find the solution,” she said.
Perez added that since she began working for the city in 2010 as an interim employee, she hoped one day to serve as a council member. She worked for the city until January 2022, finishing her tenure as Human Resources director shortly after Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo took office. Since then, she has held HR leadership roles in medical centers.
In the Seat 4 race, Marrero, a former aide to Councilman Luis Rodriguez and a member of interim Mayor Jacqueline García-Roves’ slate in November, was elected with 71% of the vote. His opponent, Morejon, who focused his campaign on lowering city service costs and improving infrastructure, finished with 28.9%
William “Willy” Marrero celebrates with supporters and friends after winning the Group 4 seat of the Hialeah City Council runoff election on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Trigo Cafe Tapas Wine at 839 W 49th St. in Hialeah, Fla.
Marrero said he was still “in shock, absorbing all of it, but happy” to see his work pay off. He outlined two priorities, including a short-term goal of finding a way to reduce residents’ high water and sewer bills. “We need to sit down with the mayor and understand the plan to lower water and sewer costs,” he said.
Marrero, 22, became one of the youngest council members ever elected in Hialeah — even younger than Calvo, who won his council seat at age 23 in 2021 and became a mayor-elect at 27. Marrero’s age had previously been a point of contention: when he applied in May to fill an interim vacancy on the council, several council members argued he was too young for the appointment.
His second priority, he added, is lowering property taxes — a promise Calvo also made during his mayoral campaign, though those taxes depend largely on state-level decisions rather than municipal authority.
Ada Mesa celebrates after her daughter Gelien Perez won the Group 3 seat of the Hialeah City Council runoff election on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Trigo Cafe Tapas Wine at 839 W 49th St. in Hialeah, Fla.
With Tuesday’s victories, Calvo will enter office with the potential to shape council decisions more effectively. Securing at least one of the two contested seats was seen as crucial to building influence on a council that will otherwise be divided. Now, with both seats in alignment with him, he is positioned to navigate appointments, budgets, and administrative priorities with greater leverage.
Calvo told the Herald in a statement that the voters of Hialeah have spoken: “They continue to demand change for the city and now begins the process of working together to deliver on that change agenda.”
Both newly elected officials said they will be independent voices on the council and will vote for solutions that benefit residents, despite receiving the mayor-elect’s endorsement. They will be sworn in on Friday, while Calvo must wait until January to take office due to a new transition period established under the Bovo administration.