A Miami Gardens elected official is moving quickly to fill a seat that one of South Florida\u2019s most prominent Democratic officeholders may soon be leaving.<\/p>\n
City Council member Linda Julien announced is running for the Miami-Dade County Commission\u2019s District 1<\/a> seat, citing Commissioner Oliver Gilbert\u2019s not-yet-announced decision to seek higher office.<\/p>\n Gilbert, a former Miami Gardens Mayor and County Commission Chair, won re-election unopposed<\/a> in 2024 to a second and final four-year term at County Hall. But he\u2019s rumored to be strongly mulling a run for Florida\u2019s 24th Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson said she is leaving the seat<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cCommissioner Oliver Gilbert has been a towering advocate for the people of Miami Gardens and District 1 \u2014 from his years as our Mayor to his leadership on the County Commission,\u201d Julien said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, District 1 needs experienced, community-rooted leadership to build on that progress and continue delivering results for our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Julien holds a degree in public administration from Florida International University<\/a> and a master\u2019s degree in the same field from Florida Atlantic University<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before winning her Miami Gardens City Council seat in 2020, she served on Miami-Dade County\u2019s Affordable Housing Board \u2014 appointed by the late<\/a> Miami-Dade Commissioner Dorrin D. Rolle \u2014 and built a career spanning economic development, contract compliance, procurement and public policy.<\/p>\n She is a licensed real estate professional who serves on the Board of Governors for Florida Realtors<\/a> and the Miami Association of Realtors<\/a>.<\/p>\n Beyond her elected and professional roles, Julien works as an adjunct professor at Miami Dade College, teaching government-focused courses.<\/p>\n Gilbert, a Miami Gardens-born lawyer who served as the city\u2019s Mayor from 2012 until winning his County Commission seat in 2020<\/a>, has been discussed as a potential candidate for CD 24, which includes Miami Gardens and Miramar in Miami-Dade, and Hollywood and Pembroke Pines in Broward County.<\/p>\n State Sen. Shevrin Jones of Miami Gardens, who announced this week<\/a> that he will not seek re-election to his Senate seat, is also seen as a likely CD 24 candidate. Repeat congressional candidate Rudy Moise filed for the contest<\/a> Wednesday after dropping<\/a> a prior bid for nearby Florida\u2019s 20th Congressional District.<\/p>\n All are Democrats. The filing deadline for the Aug. 18 Primary is June 12.<\/p>\n CD 24 remains deeply blue under the new congressional map signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, making the Democratic Primary the race that will effectively determine Wilson\u2019s successor.<\/p>\n District 1, which covers northern Miami-Dade including Miami Gardens, is a nonpartisan seat whose elections follow the same structure as other County Commission races \u2014 all candidates face off in an August Primary, with a November runoff if no one clears 50%.<\/p>\n Gilbert\u2019s current term runs through November 2028, meaning a departure for Congress would leave the seat vacant before its natural end.<\/p>\n Julien, in her announcement, pledged to continue Gilbert\u2019s work on affordable housing, public safety and economic opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cThe work Commissioner Gilbert started deserves a committed successor,\u201d she said. \u201cI look forward to campaigning hard to earn the support and vote of the residents of District 1.\u201d<\/p>\n Gilbert himself is a formidable figure in Miami-Dade Democratic politics. Born and raised in Miami Gardens, he holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice from Florida A&M University and a law degree from the University of Miami School of Law, where he was a member of the Black Law Students Association.<\/p>\n He served as Chair of the 13-member County Commission during the 2022-24 term.<\/p>\n The General Election is Nov. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Miami Gardens elected official is moving quickly to fill a seat that one of South Florida\u2019s most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[122337,23229,8184,8867,122338,123,2431,125,124,24953,24954,104595,122339],"class_list":["post-289229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-cd-24","tag-district-1","tag-election-2026","tag-frederica-wilson","tag-linda-julien","tag-miami","tag-miami-gardens","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade-commission","tag-miami-dade-county-commission","tag-oliver-gilbert","tag-oliver-gilbert-iii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}