Miami Metropolis Commissioner Joe Carollo has formally entered the 2025 race for Miami mayor, submitting his candidacy simply hours earlier than the Saturday afternoon deadline.
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At 70, Carollo says this can be his final bid for public workplace, bringing many years of expertise and political battles to a discipline that has now grown to 13 candidates.
Carollo’s political profession stretches again greater than 4 many years. He was first elected to the Miami Metropolis Fee in 1979 on the age of 24, making him one of many youngest commissioners within the metropolis’s historical past. Carollo later served two non-consecutive phrases as mayor within the late Nineties, a interval marked by intense electoral battles and authorized controversies.
The 2025 mayoral race is shaping up as a aggressive contest. Amongst Carollo’s rivals are Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Metropolis Commissioner Ken Russell, former Mayor Xavier Suarez, former Metropolis Supervisor Emilio González, and former Metropolis Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla.
Michael Hepburn, who was endorsed by one other candidate Max Martinez, is of Bahamian roots and operating to be town’s first Black mayor.
Regardless of the crowded discipline, Carollo expressed confidence that he would advance to a runoff election, citing his expertise and deep roots in Miami politics.
A central storyline of the race is the rematch between Carollo and Suarez, recalling the contentious 1997 mayoral election. Initially, Carollo misplaced to Suarez, however the election was later overturned as a result of poll fraud, in the end putting in Carollo as mayor in 1998. He served till 2001, when he was defeated in his reelection bid. After a interval away from native politics, Carollo returned in 2017, profitable the District 3 Metropolis Fee seat previously held by his youthful brother, Frank Carollo, and was reelected in 2021. Nevertheless, he’s now termed out, prompting his determination to run for mayor once more.
All through his profession, Carollo has been recognized for his outspoken type and hands-on strategy to metropolis governance, usually taking robust stances on points like improvement, metropolis providers, and municipal accountability.
The November 4 election will decide whether or not Carollo can leverage his long-standing political expertise to beat the various discipline of candidates and safe one other time period as Miami’s mayor.
