SOUTH MIAMI, Fla. – Solar energy advocate Philip Stoddard was narrowly re-elected Tuesday as mayor of South Miami, facing off against a very familiar opponent.
With 1,227 votes, Stoddard defeated former South Miami mayor Horace Feliu, taking 56.9 percent of the vote.
Feliu, an adjunct algebra and biology professor at Fortis College and the president of SterilQuip, a biomedical engineering company, came within 200 votes of unseating Stoddard in 2016. This time Stoddard widened his margin albeit slightly.
A biology professor at Florida International University, Stoddard became mayor in 2010, unseating Feliu.
Last year, Stoddard proposed a solar energy ordinance that required every new home built in the city to have solar panels. The city commission passed the measure, the first of its kind in Florida.
South Miami voters also elected two city commissioners Tuesday.
Luis Gil, an IT project manager at Baptist Health South Florida, will represent group one while incumbent Walter Harris was re-elected to the group four seat.