Miami, Florida, municipal elections, 2015
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The city of Miami, Florida, held elections for the city council on November 3, 2015. A runoff took place on November 17, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was September 19, 2015.[1] Three of the five city council seats were up for election.[2]
In Miami's District 1, incumbent Willy Gort defeated a single challenger, Miguel Angel Gabela. Gabela, a former member of Miami's Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board, had also filed to run against Gort in 2011 but later withdrew from the race.[3] By contrast, District 2's seat was hotly contested, with nine challengers vying for the spot left vacant by the end of Commissioner Marc Sarnoff's term.[4] In District 4, incumbent Francis Suarez was re-elected without opposition after several challengers entered the race but later withdrew from contention for the seat.[5]
As a few well-funded candidates faced competition from a large field of comparatively poorly-funded challengers, campaign finances became a contentious focal point in this election. Additionally, Miami's rising homelessness problem drew the attention of the candidates, making it another important issue in their campaigns. Read more about the issues below.
City council
Candidate list
District 1
- Willy Gort
- Incumbent Gort was elected in 2010. He was also on the board from 1993 to 2001.
- Miguel Angel Gabela
District 2
Note: Incumbent Marc Sarnoff did not run for re-election.
- General election candidates:
- Graciela Solares
- Mike R. Simpson
- Rosa Palomino
- Teresa Sarnoff
- Seth Sklarey
- Lorry Woods
- Williams Armbrister Sr.
- Ken Russell
- Javier Gonzalez
- Runoff election candidates:
Note: On November 5, Sarnoff conceded the race to Russell, but did not officially withdraw from the race. "I did not engage in negative campaigning and do not condone negative campaigning," she said.[6] On November 10, she officially withdrew from the race. Hours later, the city attorney stated that the runoff could not be cancelled but votes for Sarnoff would not be counted.[7]
District 4
- Francis Suarez
Election results
| Miami City Council District 1, General election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Willy Gort Incumbent |
55.7% | 1,997 |
| Miguel Angel Gabela | 44.3% | 1,590 |
| Write-in votes | 0% | 0 |
| Total Votes | 3,587 | |
| Source: "Miami, Florida", "Miami Dade County Official Election Results," accessed November 16, 2015 | ||
| Miami City Council District 2, General election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Ken Russell |
41.3% | 2,727 |
| Teresa Sarnoff |
23.5% | 1,553 |
| Graciela Solares | 22.2% | 1,467 |
| Javier Gonzalez | 4.2% | 278 |
| Lorry Woods | 3.4% | 224 |
| Rosa Palomino | 3.1% | 202 |
| Williams Armbrister Sr. | 1.1% | 73 |
| Mike R. Simpson | 0.6% | 39 |
| Seth Sklarey | 0.5% | 35 |
| Write-in votes | 0% | 0 |
| Total Votes | 6,598 | |
| Source: "Miami, Florida", "Miami Dade County Official Election Results," accessed November 16, 2015 | ||
Issues
Homelessness
Homelessness in Miami emerged as a keystone issue in the city council election, with almost every candidate speaking out on the problem. Miami saw rising numbers of unsheltered homeless persons in the 2014-2015 year, making this issue one of importance to the city.[8]
Candidate Rosa Palomino called for an increase in low-cost and subsidized housing. In addition to the problem of homelessness, she drew attention to those who must spend a large percentage of their income on housing, which she said "[creates] a new class of people who live on the edge of homelessness."[9] She argued that both of these problems would be resolved by the provision of more low-cost housing.
Candidate Mike R. Simpson offered a similar vision to Palomino on the problem of homelessness. A quote from his campaign page presented his argument: "Housing - the only known cure to homelessness. Anything else is just a band-aid or passing the buck."[10]
Meanwhile, candidate Teresa Sarnoff highlighted her own experience working with nonprofit organizations seeking to remedy Miami's homelessness problem. According to her campaign site, Sarnoff founded End Homeless Now, a 501(c)(3) program that seeks to address homelessness, and served on a panel that focused on homeless persons with mental disabilities.[11]
Campaign contribution reform
Controversy arose around Teresa Sarnoff as her opponents criticized contributions to her campaign, some of which came from large corporations.[12] Several other candidates sought to draw attention to this controversy, focusing their own campaign messages on the issue of campaign finances. Challenger Rosa Palomino made campaign finance reform a cornerstone of her campaign, arguing in favor of Miami adopting a similar policy to that of Miami Beach, which bans vendors, lobbyists and real estate developers from making political donations.[13] Similarly, candidate Mike R. Simpson's campaign website urged voters not to be discouraged by "big money" and instead to "make it unprofitable" by voting against well-funded candidates.[10]
Candidate Ken Russell, who had brought in the second-largest amount of campaign contribution funding, took a slightly different stance. On his campaign blog, he lamented the role of money in politics, but still argued that elections are influenced by campaign dollars and thanked his supporters for donating to his campaign.[14]
Sarnoff countered criticism by arguing that, while she did receive contributions from corporations, they were only part of a "three-legged stool," and that she had also received numerous contributions from individuals and small businesses. Incumbent Marc Sarnoff also defended contributions to his wife's campaign by arguing that the controversy had only arisen as a result of her campaign's transparency and implying that her opponents were less transparent about their funding.[12]
As of October 2, Ballotpedia.org could find no evidence that candidates Graciela Solares, Seth Sklarey, Lorry Woods, Williams Armbrister Sr. or Javier Gonzalez had publicly engaged the issues of homelessness or campaign finance reform.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Miami Florida Election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Correspondence with Elections Coordinator Dwight S. Danie on November 17, 2014.
- ↑ Miami-Dade Elections, "Election Calendar For 2015," accessed September 19, 2014
- ↑ Miami Herald, "Miami Commissioner Willy Gort draws a challenger in reelection campaign," March 31, 2015
- ↑ Miami Herald, "Nine qualify to run for Miami commissioner Sarnoff’s seat," September 19, 2015
- ↑ Miami Herald, "Miami Commissioner Suarez reelected by default; Gort faces challenger," September 19, 2015
- ↑ NBC Miami, "Teresa Sarnoff Concedes Miami Commission Election," November 5, 2015
- ↑ Miami Herald, "City attorney: Votes for Sarnoff won’t count in Miami election," November 10, 2015
- ↑ Miami-Dade County, "Homeless trust census results and comparison: January 23, 2014 and January 22, 2015," accessed September 29, 2015
- ↑ Palomino for Miami, "Vision: Five for Miami," accessed September 29, 2015
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Facebook, "I Like Mike 2015," accessed September 29, 2015
- ↑ Teresa Sarnoff, "About Teresa," accessed September 29, 2015
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Miami Herald, "Following the money in Miami elections," September 23, 2015
- ↑ Palomino for Miami, "Campaign Finance Reform," accessed September 29, 2015
- ↑ Ken Russell For Miami, "Follow the Money: Russell vs. Sarnoff," accessed September 29, 2015
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