Miami-Dade County commissioners have appointed a Florida House member to fill a vacant seat on the commission.
Vicki Lopez is the newest Miami-Dade County commissioner, appointed to the District 5 seat Tuesday by seven of the 12 commissioners.
The seat for the district, which runs from South Beach west out to Little Havana, became empty when it was vacated by Eileen Higgins, who won a spot in next month’s runoff for the Miami mayor’s race.
The item on Tuesday’s commission agenda called for an appointment, after five people submitted their names as applicants.
In addition to Lopez, they included Joe Sanchez, a former Miami city commissioner, David Richardson, a Miami Beach commissioner and former state representative, Bruno Barreiro, who used to be the commissioner for Miami-Dade’s District 5, and Miami businessman Antonio Diaz.
Some citizens and commissioners had wanted a special election to be held to fill the seat instead of an appointment.
Commissioner Kionne McGhee headed the effort for a special election, while Commissioner Oliver Gilbert argued for the appointment, noting it would cost the county about $1 million.
“Sometimes it would just not be pragmatic to have a special election and then five months later have another election. That would not serve the people’s best interests, not in the name of democracy and not in the name of fiscal responsibility,” Gilbert said.
Lopez will serve until the next countywide election in August of 2026. At least one of the other five applicants said they’ll run against her.