After city leaders lost a summer-long legal skirmish to postpone Miami’s November election to next year, the mayor’s race and two city commission races are back on. Now, all eyes are on the battle royale to replace termed out incumbent mayor Francis Suarez, in a fight featuring 13 contenders.
Seven candidates are new faces to Miami’s rough-and-tumble political scene and are not expected to make much noise. But the other six candidates represent a mix of Miami’s longtime political dynasties and a recent wave of upstarts promising an end to the dysfunctional corruption that’s permeated city hall in recent years.
On the real estate front, the sextet all preach about bringing more affordable and workforce apartments to a city that is among the most expensive rental markets in the nation. Given the wide open nature of the mayor’s race, real estate bigwigs are hedging their bets – in some cases donating to more than one of the six establishment candidates. These candidates are Miami city commissioner Joe Carollo, ex-Miami city commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, Miami-Dade County commissioner Eileen Higgins, ex-Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez, and another former Miami city commissioner, Ken Russell.
Here’s a breakdown of the top donors to each candidate, according to an analysis of campaign finance reports:
The $100K club
Diaz de la Portilla can thank real estate investors David and Leila Centner for helping fill the coffers of his political action committee, Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade County. In April, the Miami Beach power couple donated $100,000, representing nearly half of the committee’s haul in the three months ended in June. The PAC reported zero contributions between July and September, the most recent campaign finance filing period.
In an email, David Centner declined comment.
The Centners played a key role in Diaz de la Portilla being removed from office two years ago when he was criminally charged with money laundering, bribery and other felonies. In 2023, state prosecutors alleged Diaz de la Portilla, then a city commissioner since 2019, steered a no-bid deal to give the Centners control of a city park where they planned to build a $10 million youth sports complex next to one of the couple’s Centner Academy campuses. In exchange, Diaz de la Portilla’s PAC allegedly received $245,000 in contributions from a Centner entity via their then-lobbyist, William Riley Jr., who was also criminally charged.
Last year, authorities dropped the case against Diaz de la Portilla and Riley, citing “unreliable” witness testimony. Riley, a lawyer, has a pending lawsuit against the Centners alleging they let him take the fall. Meanwhile, the couple is suing the Miami Herald for defamation.
Aside from Diaz de la Portilla, Carollo is the only other mayoral candidate to score $100,000 or more from a single donor. A polarizing figure in Miami politics, Carollo served as Miami mayor from 1997 to 2001, and returned to city hall when he was elected city commissioner in 2017. In 2023, a federal jury slapped Carollo with a $63 million judgment after finding him guilty of violating the rights of Little Havana developers Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla. Carollo allegedly mounted a code enforcement campaign against the duo’s properties and businesses because they supported his political opponent in 2017.
But his tussle with Fuller and Pinilla hasn’t given other developers pause. Entities controlled by JDS Development Group’s Michael Stern donated a combined $125,000 to Carollo’s Miami First political action committee. Stern’s firm is developing a Dolce & Gabbana-branded condo-hotel in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. Stern did not respond to requests for comment.
Miami First also received a combined $120,000 from entities managed by Nuri Dorra, who is co-developing Essence Miami, a multifamily project with 88 affordable and workforce housing apartments in Little Havana that received $5 million from a city bond program.
“When you are working as a commissioner you do good things and some things that people think are bad,” Dorra told The Real Deal. “I believe Joe Carollo has done a lot of stuff that is very good for the community.”
Donors spreading out
Some donors are financially supporting more than one candidate for mayor. For instance, David Martin’s Coconut Grove-based Terra appears to favor Higgins, but also donated to Carollo’s committee and a PAC backing Suarez.
To run for Miami mayor, Higgins is resigning her county commission seat less than a year after being reelected without opposition. Suarez, whose son is current Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, served as a county commissioner from 2011 to 2020. Before that, he was Miami’s mayor from 1985 until 1993. He won a comeback bid in 1997, but his victory was overturned due to rampant voter fraud.
Entities with the same address as Terra have contributed a combined $67,500 to Higgins’ individual campaign account, as well as three political action committees supporting her candidacy, finance reports show.
Terra entities also gave a combined $10,000 to Suarez’s Community First PAC, and $2,500 to Carollo’s Miami First committee. Terra did not respond to a request for comment.
Three other Coconut Grove-based firms donating to more than one candidate are Swerdlow Group, the Related Group and 13th Floor Investments. Swerdlow affiliates donated $50,000 to Carollo’s committee, as well as $10,000 to Ethical Leadership for Miami, a PAC backing Higgins.
Through four entities, Related donated a combined $50,000 to Higgins’ committee, and another $10,000 to Community First, the PAC backing Suarez.
13th Floor gave $25,000 to Carollo’s PAC and $15,000 to Suarez’s PAC. 13th Floor’s managing principal Arnaud Karsenti donated $2,500 to Higgins’ PAC.
Representatives for Swerdlow, Related and 13th Floor did not respond to requests for comment.
Other donors to multiple candidates include affiliates of Craig Robins’ Miami-based Dacra, New York-based Ashkenazy Acquisitions and Miami-based land use law firm Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes.
The Dacra affiliates donated a combined $10,000 to Carollo’s PAC, and $5,000 to Higgins’ PAC. Bayside Marketplace, which is owned by Ashkenazy, gave $30,000 to Carollo’s Miami First and $15,000 to Suarez’s Community First. Bercow Radell donated $10,000 each to committees backing Carollo, Higgins and Suarez.
Robins and Ashkenazy did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, Bercow Radell partner Melissa Tapanes Llahues addressed the law firm’s contributions to Carollo and Higgins, but not Suarez.
“As a Miami-based firm, we closely follow local elections and have supported incumbent officials running for higher office,” Llahues said. “In addition to our contribution to Commissioner Carollo, we also supported Commissioner Eileen Higgins, recognizing her commitment to Miami’s future.”
Donors to Gonzalez and Russell
While most of Miami’s real estate titans are lining up with Carollo, Higgins and Suarez, a few have thrown their financial support behind Gonzalez and Russell. Gonzalez is a former city manager who testified against Carollo in the civil case brought by Fuller and Pinilla. Gonzalez also successfully sued the city of Miami to hold the election this year, alleging city leaders violated the city charter. Russell is a former Miami city commissioner who resigned before his second term was completed so he could run unsuccessfully for Congress.
Six entities tied to Fuller and Pinilla donated a combined $20,000 to Gonzalez’s Mission Miami PAC, while Miami-based CMC Group, led by Ugo Columbo, gave $10,000 to Russell’s committee, Breaking the Wheel.
