{"id":77756,"date":"2025-12-10T00:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T00:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/77756\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T00:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T00:53:09","slug":"gelien-perez-willy-marrero-win-runoffs-for-hialeah-city-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/77756\/","title":{"rendered":"Gelien Perez, Willy Marrero win runoffs for Hialeah City Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hialeah voters just picked two new local policymakers in runoff elections for the City Council.<\/p>\n

In a race for the panel\u2019s Group 3 seat, Gelien Perez outpaced Jessica Castillo with nearly 80% of the vote.<\/p>\n

For the Group 4 seat, William \u201cWilly\u201d Marrero took 71% of the vote to defeat Javier Morejon.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s contests presented one of the first real tests of how much sway new Mayor Bryan Calvo \u2014 who made history last month<\/a> as the youngest person ever elected Hialeah Mayor \u2014 will have as he prepares to take office.<\/p>\n

He endorsed<\/a>\u00a0Perez and Marrero, a strategic pairing that blended rival factions from the mayoral contest into his new governing coalition. Both ran with political slates opposing him.<\/p>\n

He told the Miami Herald last month that he hoped to create \u201ca coalition to approve the agenda,\u201d without an expectation that Perez and Matteo \u201cwill vote with (him) 100% of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also promised to give him an advantage in the upcoming appointment to fill Jesus Tundidor\u2019s\u00a0soon-to-be-vacant seat. Tundidor ran unsuccessfully for Mayor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>(L-R) Jessica Castillo and Gelien Perez competed in Group 3. Images via the candidates.<\/p>\n

Perez, a 35-year-old former city Human Resources Director and one-time mayoral aide, campaigned on supporting first responders and small businesses, improving infrastructure and parks, expanding senior services and rejecting millage rate increases.<\/p>\n

But her tenure as HR Director drew scrutiny. A Miami-Dade ethics probe found employees under her influence received sizable raises<\/a>. At the same time, she acted as their real estate agent.<\/p>\n

Castillo, 37, ran as an independent voice focused on transparency, accountability, traffic relief, infrastructure upgrades and lower taxes. She kept her campaign largely offline, with no website and minimal social media activity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>(L-R) William \u201cWilly\u201d Marrero and Javier Morejon ran for the City Council\u2019s Group 4 seat. Images via LinkedIn and Javier Morejon.<\/p>\n

Marrero, a 23-year-old Florida International University student and former Council aide, ran on a platform that emphasized affordability, issues facing working families and seniors, and support for first responders.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, three Council members attempted to appoint him to the same seat he now seeks, but opposition from others\u00a0blocked the move<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Morejon, a 34-year-old land-use specialist with an extensive volunteer r\u00e9sum\u00e9, ran on a promise to prioritize infrastructure repairs, government transparency, beautification and reducing the cost of city services.<\/p>\n

Hialeah elects Council members at large, meaning all voters in the city could cast ballots in both races.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s winners earned four-year terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hialeah voters just picked two new local policymakers in runoff elections for the City Council. In a race…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[3675,15192,225,15193,15194,227,226,15196,18018,43697,15207,43698],"class_list":{"0":"post-77756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hialeah","8":"tag-election-2025","9":"tag-gelien-perez","10":"tag-hialeah","11":"tag-hialeah-city-council","12":"tag-hialeah-council","13":"tag-hialeah-headlines","14":"tag-hialeah-news","15":"tag-javier-morejon","16":"tag-jessica-castillo","17":"tag-william-willy-marrero","18":"tag-william-marrero","19":"tag-willy-marrero"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77756","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=77756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}