Alex Fernandez won big this week, taking 84% of the vote to secure re-election to the Miami Beach Commission Group 3 seat — the largest share of votes ever captured by a City Commission candidate.
That’s according to Assistant City Clerk Regis Barbou, who confirmed with Florida Politics that Fernandez’s margin of victory broke Miami Beach records.
Fernandez, in a statement marking his win, noted that it’s also been four decades since any candidate on a Miami Beach ballot took more than 12,000 votes. He took 12,042.
“This makes our victory even more special and I’ll continue working hard every day with gratitude, humility, and goodness of heart to make you proud!” he said.
“This was truly a record breaking victory and it belongs to you — the people of Miami Beach — who believed in steady, respectful, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership that puts people first. … This win is about the work ahead. I will continue leading to modernize our infrastructure, revitalize our economy, cut red tape so new businesses can prosper, restore affordability for the working class, and protect our environment for generations to come.”
Fernandez, a 39-year-old Democrat and the Miami Beach Commission’s only openly gay member, defeated 45-year-old Republican Luidgi Mary on Tuesday. He carried several advantages, including a massive edge in funding and the pulpit of incumbency.
Commissioner Laura Dominguez, also a Democrat, defeated a single opponent — Republican real estate investor Fred Karlton — with 61% of the vote to keep her Group 2 seat.
A third race for the Group 1 seat, which Kristen Rosen Gonzalez vacated for an unsuccessful mayoral bid, is headed to a Dec. 9 runoff after none of six candidates took a large enough share of the vote to win outright.
The Group 1 runoff candidates are Democratic city employee Monica Matteo-Salinas and Republican lawyer Monique Pardo Pope. Fernandez and Dominguez have endorsed Matteo-Salinas.