MIAMI — Michael A. Hepburn, the co-founder of the Allapattah Neighborhood Association, is among the 13 candidates running for Miami mayor on Nov. 4.
Hepburn, 43, the principal officer for the Reimagine Miami Foundation, a nonprofit organization he started in 2021, wants to make history as the city’s first Black mayor.
“Our voices have not been seated at this table of government, and it is time for that to change,” Hepburn said, adding that he wants to appoint a new city manager to focus on affordable housing.
Hepburn said freezing property taxes for legacy residents and helping first-time home buyers need to be a priority. He also wants more diversity in the police department, to get rid of corruption, and to improve the city’s resilience to flooding and hurricanes.
Hepburn also said he wants to “make sure” the city has policies that “are uplifting our kids and our seniors.”
Hepburn grew up in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood. He graduated from Miami Central High School and Miami Dade College, attended Florida State University, and earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management and a master’s degree in higher education from Florida International University.
Hepburn, who served on the Miami Parks & Recreation Advisory Board, has run for public office before. He ran to represent Florida’s 27th congressional district in 2018 and Miami’s District 5 as commissioner in 2021. Maxwell Martinez endorsed him for Miami mayor after dropping out of the race.
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, Christian E. Cevallos, Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, Elijah John Bowdre, Emilio González, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, June Savage, Kenneth DeSantis, Ken Russell, Laura Anderson, 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC
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