![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_5017.jpg\" "\\"A")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A judge ruled Thursday that North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme could not sue to disqualify his opponent, George Morgan, from the city\u2019s mayoral race, as he himself had been disqualified.<\/p>\n
Olivia Lloyd<\/p>\n
olloyd@mcclatchy.com<\/p>\n
Days after North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme was disqualified from the mayoral race in the Nov. 3 election, a judge blocked his effort to have the same done to his opponent over an 80-cent shortchange.<\/p>\n
After a nearly 90-minute court hearing Thursday, Judge Beatrice Butchko Sanchez ruled that because Desulme had been disqualified as a candidate, he wasn\u2019t eligible to file a counterclaim asserting that his opponent, George Morgan, didn\u2019t qualify for the election either.<\/p>\n
Desulme was disqualified Monday<\/a> for using two TD Bank cashier\u2019s checks to pay his candidate qualifying fees in August, leaving only Morgan, an engineer by trade, in the mayoral race. The law requires the fees to be paid from a candidate\u2019s campaign account.<\/p>\n Early voting began Monday and mail-in ballots have been sent out. After Monday\u2019s ruling, the Miami-Dade County supervisor of elections advised voters that Morgan was the only candidate in the race, and is therefore considered \u201celected\u201d by law.<\/p>\n Desulme declined to comment as he left the courtroom Thursday. His attorney, Ben Kuehne, said the outcome is unfair to voters.<\/p>\n \u201cHe cannot believe that in a town where he did things right by what the town\u2019s rules are, that he could be thrown off the ballot by somebody who waited 48 days when nobody else could qualify as mayor to say, \u2018I want to be the mayor. Forget the vote of the people,\u2019\u201d Kuehne said.<\/p>\n After the judge ruled in his favor on Thursday, Morgan said he wasn\u2019t celebrating, describing the situation as an \u201cunfortunate circumstance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese are errors that could occur, and do,\u201d he said. \u201cOur effort is to serve all the city, and we want to now get up and go forward and do what we have to do for all of North Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to the 80-cent shortage on his check to pay the candidate qualifying fee, he said no one is perfect. After the issue came to attention in another court hearing last week, he wrote a check for 80 cents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to do the right things, always want to do, and we can make mistakes,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a question of what we do when we make mistakes. That\u2019s the mark I think of a leader and a man.\u201d<\/p>\n Although voting began before Desulme was disqualified, any votes for him won\u2019t count. Shortly before midnight Monday and about six hours after Butchko Sanchez issued her order disqualifying him, Desulme filed his counterclaim seeking to disqualify Morgan, reopen the qualifying period and have a special election in December.<\/p>\n Morgan\u2019s attorney, Sasha Bardelas, argued that only a candidate can challenge another candidate, and Desulme was no longer one.<\/p>\n Much of Thursday\u2019s courtroom debate centered on whether the judge\u2019s order was in fact final, which would close the case and nullify Desulme\u2019s counterclaim. Butchko Sanchez said when she signed off on it, she believed it was final.<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t wade too deeply into the merits of Desulme\u2019s counterclaim, but told him the time for filing it had passed.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I even suggested that you all need to file a lawsuit,\u201d she said. \u201cYou should have done it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuehne argued he did file the counterclaim in a timely manner. But the judge ruled that Kuehne was at least six hours too late.<\/p>\n![\"North](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792785134_703_MIA_SN2_3210.JPG\" "\\"MIA_SN2_3210.JPG\\"")
North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme, who has been disqualified in the Nov. 3, 2026 election due to using cashier\u2019s checks to pay his candidate qualifying fees. SAM NAVARRO Special for the Miami Herald <\/p>\n