MIAMI — Christian E. Cevallos, a home developer and former Miami-Dade County community council member, is among the 13 candidates running for Miami mayor on Nov. 4.
Cevallos, who was born in Ecuador, earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Florida International University. He said he wants to audit the past administration.
“I want to be very clear and very transparent with voters,” Cevallos said.
Cevallos lives in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood and used to live in Miami-Dade County’s West End area. He co-owns America Promanagement LLC, based in Kendall, records show.
“We need to work with the small developers, not the big corporations ... and start building affordable housing,” Cevallos said.
The city, he said, also needs to have more activities to attract more tourists. Cevallos said some city employees are overpaid, and there is a need to eliminate property taxes for the elderly.
“I believe that we can lower our property taxes by 25%,” Cevallos said.
The city services for children with special needs need more support to connect them to state and federal benefits, he said. There are neighborhoods that the city has neglected, he said.
“I invite people to go to Little Haiti. You are not in Miami ... it’s sad ... Someone is not doing maintenance to those neighborhoods,” Cevallos said.
Related link: Campaign page
Related document: Affidavit of candidate (.PDF)
OTHER MAYORAL CANDIDATES
The other candidates in the nonpartisan race are Alex Díaz de la Portilla, Alyssa Crocker, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, Elijah John Bowdre, Emilio González, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, June Savage, Kenneth DeSantis, Ken Russell, Laura Anderson, Michael A. Hepburn, and Xavier L. Suarez.
Name recognition: Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is not related to newcomer Kenneth DeSantis, endorsed González, a retired U.S. Army Colonel and fellow Republican who served as Miami’s city manager from 2018 to 2020.
Suarez, who served as Miami mayor from 1985 to 1993 and from 1997 to 1998, is the father of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
Legal trouble: De La Portilla is a former Miami commissioner who served from 2020 to 2023 when Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him over a corruption case that prosecutors later dropped.
Carollo, who served as Miami mayor from 1996 to 1997 and from 1998 to 2001, also has an arrest record. In 2001, police officers arrested him for domestic violence, and he agreed to attend anger management classes.
Later in 2023, a federal jury in civil court sided with two businessmen who won $63.5 million in damages against Carollo for “weaponizing” code enforcement to violate their rights after they supported one of his political opponents.
INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC
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