MIAMI — Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, a City Hall veteran, is among the 13 candidates running for Miami mayor on Nov. 4.
Carollo, a former Metro Dade police officer, served as a city commissioner, a city vice mayor, and two terms as Miami mayor from 1996 to 1997 and from 1998 to 2001.
“After seeing who was running, after so many years that I have given of my life to this city, my sweat, blood and tears, I don’t want to see the city of Miami falls in hands of people that really don’t care for our city,” Carollo said about why he was running for mayor again.
Carollo, who lives near Little Havana, has an arrest record. In 2001, police officers arrested him for domestic violence, and prosecutors dropped the case after he agreed to attend anger management classes.
Carollo, who was born in Cuba, moved to the U.S. when he was six years old with Operation Pedro Pan, and he went on to become a police officer when he was 18 years old. His critics blame him for the commission’s dysfunction.
“That’s just made up by those that want to come in into government takeover,” Carollos said, adding the media is also “part of the problem.”
Later in 2023, a federal jury in civil court sided with two businessmen who won $63.5 million in damages against Carollo for “weaponizing” city employees to violate their rights after they supported one of his political opponents.
Carollo represents Miami’s District 3, which includes Little Havana, West Brickell, and the Roads. He is also the chairman of the Bayfront Park Management Trust.
Related link: X page
Related document: Affidavit of candidate (.PDF)
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OTHER MAYORAL CANDIDATES
The other candidates in the nonpartisan race are Alex Díaz de la Portilla, Alyssa Crocker, Christian E. Cevallos, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, Elijah John Bowdre, Emilio González, June Savage, Kenneth DeSantis, Ken Russell, Laura Anderson, Michael A. Hepburn, and Xavier L. Suarez.
Name recognition: In September, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is not related to Kenneth DeSantis, endorsed González, a retired U.S. Army Colonel and fellow Republican.
Suarez, who served as Miami mayor from 1985 to 1993 and from 1997 to 1998, is the father of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
More 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.
INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC
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