Some familiar faces, like Maria Elvira Salazar and Vicki Lopez, and some newcomers, like Eliott Rodriguez and Bruno A. Barreiro, led the way in Miami-Dade County’s primary election Tuesday, while voters in Miami gave an overwhelming OK to restore historic Miami Marine Stadium through a management agreement.<\/p>\n
There were 1,288,156 registered voters in Miami-Dade County for this primary, and 240,546 voted in this election (18.67%).<\/p>\n
Voter turnout on Key Biscayne mirrored the County’s – 18.17% – although there was no mayoral election after Brett Moss ran unopposed.<\/p>\n
Salazar, the District 27 Congressional incumbent, cruised to an easy victory against Republican opponent V. Michael Arias, gathering 81.32% of the votes.<\/p>\n
She will face off in November against Rodriguez, a popular longtime newscaster in Miami, who nudged out Robin Peguero with 53.51% of the votes on the Democrat side.<\/p>\n
Barreiro squeezed past Frank Lago by just 72 votes (2,416-2,344) in one of the closest races of the evening for the Republican side in the race for the House District 113 seat, formerly held by Lopez, now a Miami-Dade Commissioner. Tony Diaz had 944 votes.<\/p>\n
Lago carried Key Biscayne by a 47.73% to 38.64% margin but it was not enough to overcome some of Barreiro\u2019s off-island wins.<\/p>\n
On the Democrat side for the District 113 seat, Gloria Romero Roses defeated Justin Mendoza-Routt by a comfortable margin, winning 3,197 to 2,480 votes, or 56.31% of the ballots cast.<\/p>\n
Lopez, by the way, won her primary for the Board of County Commission District 5 race, but did not receive the 50% needed to automatically win the seat. She collected 42.30%, or 7,011 votes. The incumbent Republican will be in a runoff with Democrat Rob Piper (29.49%, 4,887 to squeeze past Joe Sanchez by less than 2%) in November, and a victory by Piper there could flip the Miami-Dade Commission back to the Dems’ majority.<\/p>\n
Marleine Bastien and Danielle Cohen Higgins both retained their County Commission seats by garnering more than 50% of the vote.<\/p>\n
County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert III made the best of his run for the Democrat side of the Congressional District 24 seat, beating out six others with 35.11% of the vote, including runner-up “Shev” Jones (29.53%) with five precincts not yet tabulated.<\/p>\n
Annette Taddeo soared to 68.51% of the vote in the Democrat race for Chief Financial Officer, easily beating Earle Ford. Blaise Ingoglia was on his way to winning the Republican side with more than 50% of the vote with 10 precincts out.<\/p>\n
Byron Donalds ran away with Miami-Dade’s portion of the election for the Republican side for State Governor, while David Jolly dominated the Dems’ side, as they both did in the overall Florida election. They will collide in November for the state’s top post.<\/p>\n
Miami’s Marine Stadium, thanks to the efforts of Don Worth and even Jimmy Buffett’s daughter, received the go-ahead from more than two-thirds of the City of Miami voters to proceed with a refurbishment of the iconic venue.<\/p>\n