{"id":372287,"date":"2026-08-15T14:10:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372287\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T14:10:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:10:48","slug":"hialeah-race-to-fill-council-seat-pits-veteran-politician-vs-young-newcomer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372287\/","title":{"rendered":"Hialeah race to fill council seat pits veteran politician vs. young newcomer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hialeah voters will choose a new council member in a special election in November to fill the remainder of a term left vacant after former Council Member Jesus Tundidor resigned to run for mayor last year.<\/p>\n

The race pits interim Council Member Luis Gonz\u00e1lez, 55, against Mariana Chavez, a 21-year-old former candidate who is seeking the seat after running as the youngest person for council last November.<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez, a former council member, was selected by the City Council in January to temporarily fill the vacant seat<\/a> after receiving Mayor Bryan Calvo’s support<\/a>. Voters will decide in a special election to determine who will serve the remainder of Tundidor’s term.<\/p>\n

\"Luis<\/p>\n

Luis Gonz\u00e1lez was sworn in on Jan. 27, 2026, after being appointed to temporarily fill a vacant Hialeah City Council seat.<\/p>\n

Before the City Council appointed him to the interim seat, Gonz\u00e1lez told the Miami Herald he was “inspired by Mayor Calvo” to return to public service. He said his goal was to help stabilize the city’s finances and bring experience back to City Hall, adding that his top priority would be improving the city’s financial management.<\/p>\n

The race has drawn attention because both candidates have connections to Calvo, creating an unusual political dynamic for a mayor who campaigned on a promise to break from Hialeah’s traditional political circles.<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez is a familiar figure in Hialeah politics. He served on the City Council from 2005 to 2017 under former mayors Julio Robaina and Carlos Hern\u00e1ndez. Running as part of Hern\u00e1ndez’s political slate, he lost his 2019 election bid to Tundidor.<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA from Florida International University. During Calvo’s mayoral campaign, Gonz\u00e1lez’s company, Vital Graphics, received more than $80,000 from Calvo’s political committee, Let’s Fix Hialeah, to provide marketing services.<\/p>\n

The Herald attempted to reach Gonz\u00e1lez by phone and text message for this story, but he did not respond.<\/p>\n

Chavez, meanwhile, is campaigning as a representative of a new generation of leadership.<\/p>\n

\"Mariana<\/p>\n

Mariana Chavez, 21, is running for Hialeah City Council. She says one of her main goals is to motivate young people to vote. Chavez has criticized high water bills and poor road maintenance, arguing that the city is in need of \u201creshaping.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Hialeah needs “reshaping and bettering,” citing high water bills, deteriorating infrastructure and road conditions and the city’s longstanding problem with roaming livestock.<\/p>\n

“The streets, they’re in pieces still. Now we’re starting to see a difference, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. We have a big issue of livestock,” Chavez said. “If I’m your city council member, I will make sure livestock is no longer an issue in our city because we do not need peacocks, ducks, chickens anywhere roaming around the city. We’re not a farm. We are a normal city.”<\/p>\n

During last year’s election, Chavez told the Herald she was running independently<\/a> and was not aligned with any mayoral candidate. But Calvo, who was running for mayor at the time, personally contributed two separate $395 donations to help fund her campaign door hangers, according to public records.<\/p>\n

Chavez has become critical of some of Calvo’s decisions, including his support for appointing Gonz\u00e1lez to the interim council seat\u2014an appointment she also sought after narrowly losing her council bid in November.<\/p>\n

Chavez questioned why Calvo, who campaigned on challenging Hialeah’s political establishment, backed a former council member associated with previous administrations.<\/p>\n

“I’m well aware the mayor is endorsing Luis Gonz\u00e1lez,” Chavez said. “He was running a campaign that was completely against the old political machines. Why are we bringing this back?. We should be going forwards.”<\/p>\n

The Herald reached out to the mayor and his spokesperson several times before publication, but neither responded.<\/p>\n

Chavez is studying communications at St. Thomas University. She is a college field representative for Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization, and is also involved with Bobcats for Life, a pro-life student organization.<\/p>\n

“I want to be a voice for the younger generation,” she said.<\/p>\n

She said her campaign is driven by public service rather than political ambition.<\/p>\n

“I’m not doing this trying to get a pension,” she said. “I’m doing this because I need to help my community, and I know that’s where my purpose is.”<\/p>\n

Chavez’s campaign reflects the same generational message that fueled Calvo’s own political rise. Calvo was one of the youngest candidates elected to the City Council in 2021 before becoming Hialeah’s youngest elected mayor at age 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hialeah voters will choose a new council member in a special election in November to fill the remainder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[15188,832,3368,225,227,226,150373,65548,23570,65549],"class_list":["post-372287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-bryan-calvo","tag-city-council","tag-council-member","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news","tag-interim-council-member","tag-luis-gonzalez","tag-mariana-chavez","tag-vacant-seat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372287","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=372287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}