MIAMI — The clock is ticking for supporters of an effort underway to boot Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava out of office. In just over four weeks, petitioners need to submit tens of thousands of required signatures.
Campaign filings show the head of the “Recall Cava” political action committee is “Alex Otaola for Mayor.”
Otaola, the conservative social media influencer, is a former mayoral candidate whom Levine Cava, a Democrat, trounced in the technically nonpartisan race in 2024.
On Instagram, he accuses Levine Cava of “county mismanagement,” from persistent flooding to challenges at Miami International Airport.
Local 10 News asked Christian Ulvert, a Levine Cava campaign advisor, about the effort.
He said Otaola “is running an effort to build his name on the backs of a very popular mayor.”
“For someone who is trying to campaign on accountability, he sure knows how to duck it at every turn of the quarter,” Ulvert said.
Officials with the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Office said the PAC missed a recent campaign finance reporting deadline.
A spokesperson for the PAC described it as a delay due to a portal-upload technological issue, but according to the elections department, they “missed a deadline earlier this year too.”
Regarding what petitioners need, elections officials said they require just over 65,000 signatures by May 14.
Mercy Perez, a recall effort supporter, told Local 10 News they have obtained 50,000 so far. Ulvert said he will believe it when he sees it.
“Fifty-thousand signatures is not only questionable, it’s laughable, because we’ve been seeing folks all over this county and we really aren’t seeing it,” he said. “But what we do see are voters coming up every day to our office ― to the mayor ― saying, ‘What can we do to stand with you to show the support, to remind voters, remind this community that Mayor Cava is beloved by us, by Miami-Dade County?’”
Pollster Fernand Amandi is also skeptical.
“I don’t (believe it has what it takes) because it doesn’t seem to be a recall effort motivated by any real desire to remove the mayor,” Amandi said. “Rather it’s a partisan recall done by extremists in the Republican Party.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the PAC said, in part, “The Committee continues its lawful signature collection effort and urges eligible voters to make their voices heard.”
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