Live in Coral Gables? Here’s who will be on your ballot for the April election

The deadline to make the ballot in Coral Gables’ April 13 municipal election came and went Friday, setting off a six-week scrum in which 13 candidates will campaign to win open seats for mayor and city commission.

With Mayor Raúl Valdés-Fauli retiring, two sitting commissioners — Patricia Keon and Vince Lago — will vie to succeed him. They’ll be joined by activist Jackson “Rip” Holmes, who launched a long-shot bid for mayor only moments before a noon deadline to make the ballot. Another 10 candidates will jockey to fill the seats to be vacated by Keon and Lago.

Candidates in the three races must win more than 50% of the vote to claim victory. In races where no one emerges with a majority of the votes cast, a runoff election will be required two weeks later between the top two vote-getters.

Voters who want to participate in the election must be registered to vote by March 15. Mail ballots will go out on March 23, and early voting will take place the Saturday and Sunday before the election.

The number of candidates presents a challenge, and some with money and well-known surnames should have an easier time managing than others.

“When you have a crowded field, it benefits the candidates with name recognition,” said Sean Foreman, a political science professor at Barry University. “But a newcomer with a strong message and a unified base could break through when they may not otherwise.”

Mayor’s race

Keon and Lago are vacating their seats on the city commission to try and fill the role of Mayor Valdés-Fauli, who is stepping down after four terms in city hall over the last 35 years. Holmes hopes to play spoiler.

The mayor serves a two-year term with a $40,761 annual salary.

Keon, a 72-year-old registered nurse, was re-elected to the commission in 2017 to a second four-year term. Before she served in Coral Gables, she worked as a policy aide to then-Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jimmy Morales, who currently serves as the chief operations officer for Miami-Dade County.

Keon graduated with a nursing degree from Barry University. Keon worked at New York University Medical Center and later at Jackson Memorial Hospital. She also has a Master’s in Public Administration from Florida International University.

Like Keon, Lago was also first elected to the city commission in 2013, and was automatically re-elected in 2017 after running unopposed.

Lago, 44, earned a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Florida International University, as well as his Master’s in Construction Management from the Engineering School at FIU. He is an executive at BDI Construction Company, a firm that focuses on commercial construction.

Keon and Lago were headed for a one-on-one contest. But 30 minutes before qualifying ended, Holmes, a commercial real estate agent, jumped into the mayor’s race from the crowded Group Two race where he originally filed to run. Holmes is a perennial Coral Gables commission candidate.

Holmes, 70, hasn’t reported any contributions to his campaign account. In a YouTube video posted shortly after he switched his candidacy, Holmes acknowledged that his chances may be “equal to the amount of money I’ve made.”

Group Two race

Lago’s vacated seat in Group Two has drawn six candidates. A commissioner’s term lasts four years and pays $33,121 annually.

The crowded race will likely result in a runoff election, which is scheduled for April 27.

Among the candidates, Rhonda Anderson, 61, is an attorney and community activist, representing the LeJeune Segovia Neighborhood Association.

Tania Cruz-Gimenez, 46, is an attorney and political consultant who has worked on campaigns for Miami commissioners Alex Diaz de la Portilla and Joe Carollo. She was hired by Ultra Music Festival organizers to help set the terms of a proposed deal with the city of Miami. She also worked as a consultant for the group that sent attack ads against the failed strong-mayor proposal on the Miami ballot in 2018, which would have made the Miami mayor the city’s chief administrator.

Cruz-Gimenez is the wife of prominent lobbyist C.J. Gimenez and daughter-in-law of Congressman and former Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Alexander Haq, 25, is a graduate of the University of Miami.

Mayra Joli, 56, is a Brickell immigration attorney, beauty queen and sometimes Spanish-language television pundit. Joli went viral last year when she showed enthusiastic support for former President Donald Trump while sitting behind him during a town hall at the Pérez Art Museum Miami.

José Valdés-Fauli, 69, is a retired banker, LGBTQ advocate and supporter of the arts. He is also the brother of the outgoing mayor.

Claudia Miro, 46, is the president of the Women’s Republican Club of Miami, Federated and works in marketing for Miami-Dade County. Miro got her start in government working in the city of Miami and later, the city of Sweetwater.

Group Three race

There are four candidates in the Group Three race to fill Keon’s vacated commission seat.

Javier Baños, 40, is a CPA and attorney. He has served on the city’s Retirement Board, where he worked on the administration of the city’s public pension.

Baños has been involved in politics in the past, having run for South Miami’s city commissioner and serving as the treasurer of the campaign accounts and political action committee for Carollo, the Miami commissioner. He was also Carollo’s appointee on the Bayfront Park Management Trust.

Alex Bucelo, 28, is an attorney and son of prominent attorney Armando Bucelo, former chairman of the Miami Dade College Board of Trustees and former chairman of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation under former President George W. Bush.

Kirk Menendez, 59, is a longtime Coral Gables figure, youth sports supporter and former assistant city attorney for the City of Miami. He also served as Miami Commissioner Ken Russell’s chief of staff.

Phillip “PJ” Mitchell, 47, filed to run in the Group Three race at the last minute Friday. Mitchell, an attorney, ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Coral Gables commission in 2015.

This article has been updated to include Mitchell’s candidacy.