A Democratic candidate prevailed Monday in a special election for a spot on the Miami commission, defeating a slew of other contenders including an individual who’s repeatedly run for office — now losing three times — and helped spread support for Donald Trump’s attempt to win the presidency in 2016.
The victorious Democratic contender was Sabina Covo, who was supported by the individual who vacated the seat in connection with an unsuccessful run for Congress, Ken Russell. The seat Covo won Monday will again be on the ballot later this year, but that juncture will provide the successful Democrat and any other candidates with the opportunity for a full term of four years. The overall number of votes cast in the race was small, although it wasn’t as small as the total cast in a recent legislative race in New Hampshire where the sole Democratic contender also won. Here, Covo obtained some 30 percent of the total. Covo’s background, besides time in the private sector as a journalist, includes a stint as a communications professional for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services under Nikki Fried, a Democrat who led the department for four years.
Fried waged an unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for Florida governor, losing to Charlie Crist, who then lost the 2022 general election by a huge margin. Fried, though, was recently selected to lead the Florida Democratic Party, defeating key challenger Annette Taddeo, a former state Senator in Florida. Both Fried and Taddeo supported Covo in her bid for a spot on the Miami city commission. The mayor of Miami, who is a Republican, backed somebody else: a former judge who amassed more than half a million dollars in support of his campaign before finishing in a distant fourth, as outlined by Florida Politics. The MAGA candidate in the mix in a race that was technically without partisan affiliation was Lorenzo “Larry” Palomares-Starbuck, whose past runs for office include attempts at the Florida state Senate and a spot in Congress.
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former Congresswoman, used the opportunity of Covo’s win to insist upon continued Democratic strength in the state overall. “Congratulations to Democratic candidate @SabinaCovo who won the special election today for a key commission district in the heart of Miami,” she said on Twitter. “Miami is Blue, Florida is purple, don’t let MAGA cons tell you otherwise. #2024Election is coming.” The district includes portions of downtown.
Besides this win, Democrats can also point to recent victories in special elections held in both Kentucky and Virginia, although both of those specific districts were places in which circumstances of the races already favored the Democrats. Still, in Virginia, Democratic contender Jennifer McClellan improved upon the margin won in 2022 by the late A. Donald McEachin by around 10 percent, finishing with nearly three-fourths of the vote overall! In Kentucky, the successful Democratic candidate was replacing an individual whose service included time as the Democratic leader in the state Senate in Kentucky.
🎉Congratulations to Democratic candidate @SabinaCovo who won the special election today for a key commission district in the heart of Miami. Miami is Blue, Florida is purple, don’t let MAGA cons tell you otherwise. #2024Election is coming pic.twitter.com/n8ZevVFaDq
— Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (@DebbieforFL) February 28, 2023
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
