Homestead elects a new mayor, Hialeah fills two council seats and all three Miami Beach races will head to a runoff. Voters cast their ballots for another election day in a few Miami-Dade County cities. NBC 6’s Steve Litz reports.
For complete election day results, click here.
A number of commission and council seats were up for grabs, one mayor was chosen and nearly a dozen issues were voted on Tuesday when residents in several South Florida cities headed to the polls for election day.
In Miami Beach, none of the commission seats were decided, including a heated race in Group 4 that pitted political rivals Kristen Rosen Gonzalez and Rafael A. Velasquez against each other in a four-person election. Rosen Gonzalez once accused Velasquez of exposing himself to her, and he in turn sued her.
Gonzalez did not win with the needed 50% plus one margin, but she currently leads the first round with 38% of the votes.
Commissioner Ricky Arriola faced three challengers for his Group 5 seat, while in Group 6, four candidates ran to replace John Elizabeth Aleman, who announced earlier this year that she wouldn't seek re-election.
Arriola leads his race with 45% of votes. David Richardson leads the race for Group 6 with 49% of the votes.
In addition to the commission seats, Miami Beach voters decided on six different ballot initiatives. One referendum decided if the mayor's term would increase from two to four years and whether the term limit would increase from three two-year terms to two four-year terms.
The referendum did not pass.
Neither did another referendum that would have let voters decide if the mayor and commissioners should get a raise. Since 1966, commissioners have earned an annual salary of $6,000 a year, and the referendum would bump up it to $45,381. The mayor's annual salary, currently at $10,000, would go to $75,636.
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"I think the electorate understands that the amount of work that we put in, and the amount of charitable organizations that we have to support while we are in office. This is probably something that will pass," Arriola said.
Other referendums that were decided on were whether to name a park at the Convention Center "Pride Park," and amend the procedures for filling vacancies in the city commission. Both passed.
In the City of Miami, voters decided on two commission seats, with seven candidates vying for the District 1 seat occupied by Willy Gort, who has reached his term limit. At the moment, Alex Diaz de la Portilla leads the first round of votes with 39%.
In District 2, incumbent Ken Russell faced three challengers, and eventually won in a landslide.
Russell said climate change was at the top of his priority list.
"The biggest thing we have to deal with the sea level rise infrastructure, we have to deal with affordability, and these are all about resiliency. People think it's just about the water. But it's not, resilience has to do with how well our city deals with adversity," Russell said.
Voters in Hialeah filled just two of the four councilmember seats and voted on five referendums, including whether the mayor can declare a state of emergency and undertake emergency management powers, extend the general election date to two weeks from the primary election and provide one swearing-in-date for each election cycle, and make changes to the timeline for zoning and land use hearings.
None of the referendums passed.
In Homestead, former mayor Jeffrey Porter did not get his job back after running against Steve Losner.
Porter resigned for a failed bid as Florida's agriculture commissioner last year.
Losner is an attorney and former Homestead city council member.
For more information visit the Miami-Dade County Elections website.
