After a legal dispute that delayed Miami’s municipal elections, the race for mayor and two city commission seats is proceeding as scheduled in November. Thirteen candidates are competing to replace outgoing Mayor Francis Suarez, with six established political figures drawing significant attention and campaign contributions from the real estate sector.
The leading candidates with strong ties to real estate donors include current Miami city commissioner Joe Carollo, former commissioners Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Emilio Gonzalez, Ken Russell, ex-Mayor Xavier Suarez, and Miami-Dade County commissioner Eileen Higgins. All have made affordable housing a key issue in their campaigns.
Real estate investors David and Leila Centner were major contributors to Diaz de la Portilla’s political action committee (PAC), Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade County. In April, they donated $100,000—almost half of the PAC’s fundraising for the second quarter of the year. The PAC reported no new donations in the following quarter. David Centner declined to comment on these contributions.
Previously, the Centners were involved in an incident that led to Diaz de la Portilla’s removal from office after he was charged with money laundering and bribery related to a no-bid deal involving a city park. Prosecutors later dropped charges against him due to unreliable witness testimony.
Joe Carollo has also attracted large donations from developers despite past controversies. Entities controlled by Michael Stern of JDS Development Group gave $125,000 to Carollo’s Miami First PAC. Stern is behind a Dolce & Gabbana-branded condo-hotel project in Brickell. Additionally, Nuri Dorra—co-developer of Essence Miami, an affordable housing project—contributed $120,000 through his entities.
“When you are working as a commissioner you do good things and some things that people think are bad,” Dorra told The Real Deal. “I believe Joe Carollo has done a lot of stuff that is very good for the community.”
Some developers are supporting multiple candidates. Terra Group contributed $67,500 across various committees backing Higgins and also donated smaller amounts to committees supporting Suarez and Carollo.
To run for mayor, Higgins resigned her county commission seat less than a year after being reelected unopposed.
Other major real estate firms—including Swerdlow Group, Related Group, 13th Floor Investments, Dacra affiliates led by Craig Robins, and law firm Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes—have split their donations among several candidates’ committees.
“As a Miami-based firm, we closely follow local elections and have supported incumbent officials running for higher office,” said Melissa Tapanes Llahues of Bercow Radell. “In addition to our contribution to Commissioner Carollo, we also supported Commissioner Eileen Higgins, recognizing her commitment to Miami’s future.”
A few donors have directed support toward other candidates such as Gonzalez (who successfully sued the city over election timing), Russell (a former commissioner who ran unsuccessfully for Congress), and Suarez (a former mayor whose previous victory was overturned due to voter fraud). Six entities linked to Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla gave $20,000 combined to Gonzalez’s Mission Miami PAC; CMC Group led by Ugo Columbo contributed $10,000 to Russell; Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group and Blanca Commercial Real Estate each gave $10,000 to Suarez’s Imagine Miami PAC.
