Miami Beach voters cast ballots Tuesday in Florida's Aug. 18 countywide primary, which set up two November races with direct stakes for the city and left the city's own ballot questions for a separate special election this fall.
HD 106: Báez-Geller advances to face Basabe
The most consequential outcome for Miami Beach came in the Democratic primary for House District 106, the coastal Miami-Dade seat that includes all of Miami Beach along with Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, Bal Harbour, Indian Creek, North Bay Village, North Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Aventura and Fisher Island.
Former Miami-Dade School Board member Lucia Báez-Geller defeated Miami Beach attorney Ashley Litwin Diego, taking roughly 57% of the vote. Báez-Geller, who taught English at Miami Beach Senior High for 15 years before her School Board tenure, will face two-term Republican incumbent Fabián Basabe in the Nov. 3 General Election.
The general-election matchup carries added weight because of Basabe's legal troubles: he was recently found liable in a civil trial for sexually harassing, battering and defaming two former House staffers, a verdict he has said he plans to contest. He first won the seat in 2022 by a 242-vote margin and won re-election in 2024 by roughly four points.
The primary drew a wide range of local endorsements on both sides. Litwin Diego, who lives in Miami Beach's Biscayne Point neighborhood, was backed by former Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber along with Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and several other elected officials. Báez-Geller's endorsers included sitting Miami Beach Commissioner Tanya Katzoff Bhatt, state Sen. Shevrin Jones and several labor unions.
County Commission District 5: runoff set for a district spanning most of Miami Beach
Miami-Dade County Commission District 5 is headed to a Nov. 3 runoff. The district covers all of South Beach and parts of Mid and North Beach, along with Hibiscus, Palm, Star and Fisher Islands on the Miami Beach side, plus Downtown Miami, Brickell and several other mainland neighborhoods.
Incumbent Commissioner, Republican Vicki Lopez, who was appointed to the seat earlier this year after Eileen Higgins was elected Miami mayor, finished short of the majority needed to win outright and will face second-place finisher, Democrat Rob Piper in the runoff.
Commission races in Miami-Dade are nonpartisan, and a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff.
Piper's runoff berth defied a lopsided money race
Piper's second-place finish is notable given the financial mismatch between the two runoff candidates. Lopez's campaign account and her political action committee, Common Sense Government, together raised close to $1.5 million this cycle, according to Florida Division of Elections filings, compared with just $2,715 for Piper.
More than 70% of the PAC's $964,736 haul came from real estate-related executives and companies, The Real Deal reported, including $50,000 from Coral Rock Development's Michael D. Wohl and a combined $40,000 from entities tied to developer Michael Swerdlow. The donor list reflects Lopez's role, as a state representative, sponsoring the Live Local Act, the 2023 state law that preempts local zoning to let developers build denser residential projects in exchange for including affordable units.
This article will be updated as further certified results become available. Full precinct-level results are available on the Miami-Dade County Elections Results portal.
