THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ELECTION CENTRAL 2026 ... QUALIFYING WEEK
UPDATED AT 2:00 PM TODAY:
No surprises to report other than perennial candidate Renier Diaz de la Portilla did not pay the $7,590.20 qualifying fee in Group 38 of the County Court. Therefore, we extend our congratulations to incumbent Judge Gordon Murray on his re-election.
We have six remaining contested judicial elections to look forward to this August.
Qualifying for Circuit and County Court closes at Noon today. We will update this post once all final paperwork is reviewed and confirmed. As of midnight, here is where things stand:
CIRCUIT COURT
First, the contested races:
GROUP 5 (Judge Angelica Zayas retiring)
Alexander Annunziato (In-house counsel, Ascendant Commercial Insurance; attorney for 11 years)
Arthur McNeil (Assistant Public Defender; attorney for 19 years)*** (HAS NOW QUALIFIED)
Monica Segura (Senior Managing Associate General Counsel for Universal Property & Casualty; attorney for 20 years).
GROUP 35 (Judge Orlando Prescott retiring)
Renee Gordon (Assistant Public Defender; attorney for 30 years)
Cristobal Padron (Private practice, family law; attorney for 14 years)*** (HAS NOW QUALIFIED)
GROUP 67
Incumbent Judge Mavel Ruiz
Destiny Goede "Alvarez" (Insurance defense; attorney for five years)
We previously posted about the shenanigans that Ms. Goede "Alvarez" pulled with her multiple name changes, twice in two months, under the title "The Name Game," and we encourage you to read it again. You can find it here. (scroll down to Group 67).
GROUP 69 (Judge Richard Hersch retiring)
Rita Baez (Private practice, personal injury; attorney for 30 years)
Yaneth Del Carmen Baez (Assistant State Attorney; attorney for 9 years)
Bonita Jones-Peabody (Private Practice, former APD; attorney for 35 years)
GROUP 76
Incumbent Judge Spencer Eig
Yenly Dominguez (Private practice, real estate & estate planning; attorney for 7 years)
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING JUDGES
Twenty-seven incumbent judges were automatically re-elected after drawing no opposition:
Tanya Brinkley
Beatrice Butchko
Carmen Cabarga
Yvonne Colodny
Ivonne Cuesta
Jorge Cueto
Abby Cynamon
Michelle Delancy
Dawn Denaro
Reemberto Diaz
Veronica Diaz
Carlos Gamez
Stacy Glick
Laura Gonzalez-Marques
Carlos Guzman
Christine Hernandez
Peter Lopez
Denis Martinez-Scanziani
Alberto Milian
Cristina Miranda
Spencer Multack
Joseph Perkins
Migna Sanchez-Llorens
Laura Stuzin
Daryl Trawick
Andrea Wolfson
COUNTY COURT
Again, we begin with the contested races:
GROUP 25
Incumbent Judge Luis Perez-Medina
Maribel Diaz (Miami-Dade Tax Collector’s Office; attorney for 17 years)
GROUP 38
Incumbent Judge Gordon Murray
Renier Diaz de la Portilla (Private Practice; attorney for 18 years)***
***Indicates that the candidate has not yet paid their qualifying fee.
Nine incumbent County Court judges were automatically re-elected:
Betty Capote-Erben
Raul Cuervo
Ritamaria Cuervo
Victoria Ferrer
Kevin Hellman
Joanne Marie Hernandez
Natalie Moore
Stephanie Silver
Best of luck to all of the candidates. Voters go to the polls on August 18, 2026.
Captain4Justice@gmail.com
19 comments:
Winning at all cost?
Why has zoom been abolished in weekday morning and afternoon felony bond hearings as of yesterday?
Does anyone know why Felony Bond court appearances via Zoom have been discontinued!? I don’t practice in this circuit daily.
Jim. Take it easy on a young woman recently married and establishing her professional identity. Not a good look.
I’m not upset about any of these.
I have no clue
Maybe because pandemic is over and it’s time to get back to going to court in person?
It's Captain Justice, thank you. And I will never take it easy on any candidate who plays the "Name Game". She may have been recently married but changing her name TWICE (in two months) with The Florida Bar (32 months after getting married), first, the week before she submits her application to the JNC (to Goede Alvarez), and then changing it again FIVE DAYS before filing to run for Judge (to just Alvarez) is just begging for Captain Justice to bring attention to what she did. She wants to be a judge. How does she earn the trust of the citizens of Miami-Dade County when her first act is to try and hoodwink her constituents. That's a bad look and I am going to call it out every time I see it happen. I did it when Jason Reding decided to add Quinones to his name the day before he submitted his application to the JNC. I am an equal opportunity reporter of the facts. She is apparently so well connected, that Governor DeSantis will likely tap her from the short list for one of the open County court seats, despite the fact that she has been an attorney for barely five years (the minimum). Then Judge Mavel Ruiz will win in a walkover. Captain Out .......
Can you blame Destiny though?!? It worked for Reding - look at him now! This is just the sad state of affairs in Florida. Being qualified is more about are you with the Federalist program or not. She’s just using the system that’s currently in place to her advantage. It will be interesting to see how badly DeSantis wants to defeat Mavel Ruiz - if they let Destiny stay in that race instead of appointing her or do they appoint her to County and give Mavel the seat for 6 more years.
I'll bet that Mrs. Alvarez has found that her birth name of Goede was difficult to pronounce at sight, a real problem for a candidate. I was concerned about her only five years of experience (I do not know her or her family at all), but see that her father heads the law firm, so imagine that she has hung out with lawyers all her life. Judge Ruiz should not win re-election, for reasons that are entirely related to her deficient knowledge of law and procedure, but I don't see Captain Justice delving into her past. And certainly, to tar Mrs. Alvarez with the "likely to be appointed by De Santis" anyway brush is simply unfair.
Judge Silver should have drawn an opponent. A smiling wolf in sheep's clothing. 20K bench warrants on misdemeanors. Cut from the same cloth as Vom Zamft, B. Miller, and Mitchell.
Former ASA here.
When mavel Ruiz was in the pd office, she was a pleasure to work with. I hooked her up on many an occasion and fully supported her ascension to the bench. But having appeared before her in civil, dependency and criminal, she is just not a pleasure to deal with anymore. Inconsistent rulings and bad attitude was my experience.
Not surprising that she drew an opponent. Not a big fan of baby lawyers taking the bench, but whatever happens, so be it. Can't be any worse.
You seem like a good person I bet you didn’t “win at all cost” when you were an ASA.
Someone should look into her conduct not he Terrorist Boys case. I hear it was comparable to Von Zamft's conduct on the John Doe case.
Cabarga while very sweet off the bench, doesnt have to temperament to be on the bench. Surprised she was unopposed.
on the*
Lol DeSantis has no idea who mavel Ruiz is nor does he care.
Never heard of anything like that
Judge Ruiz Is a nice person off the bench. But having been before her it's a struggle to get hearings and orders even longer. Not easy to constantly explain to the client why a case isn't "moving". This has been the experience of many others and it's not a plaintiff or defendant thing, it's a case management issue. It's unfortunate that Capt feels it necessary to focus on the name issue, but that's his right as a voter. But in this case, Judge Ruiz is Cuban born with a Spanish last name, so any "influence" would actually just equalize the playing field from the name part, so not sure what's the big issue at least in this race. Also, as clear in the last 2 election cycle, several judges without Spanish last names defeated opponents with Spanish-sounding last names (Christopher Brown beating out Alina Restrepo; Christopher Green beating out Rita Maria Baez, Lody Jean beat out Teressa Maria Cervera; Robert Watson beat out Brenda Guerrero; Fred Seraphin beat out Renier Diaz de la Portilla). I'd Like to see Capt. put out a listing of each candidate he says has played the name game in past 15 years and what was the ultimate result. Even better, all the races of a Spanish sounding name vs a non-Spanish sounding name, and the eventual results. Would be interesting.
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