THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ELECTION CENTRAL - PRIMARY RESULTS .......
Congratulations are in order for three newly elected Judges. They will take office in the first week of January, 2025. In the fourth contest of the day, we have a runoff.
On Tuesday, August 20, 2024, voters went to the polls to elect four judges, two in the Circuit Court and two in the County Court. Of the 1.4 million registered voters in Miami-Dade County, 19.6% of voters cast ballots.
CIRCUIT COURT:
GROUP 8
Former Judge Jason Bloch has been elected to a new six-year term on the bench. He bested his opponent Bonita Jones-Peabody convincingly, garnering 62% of the vote.
GROUP 29
In a much closer race, Heloiza Correa won a hard-fought contest over Cristobal David Padron.
Heloiza Correa 129,525 (51.9%)
Cristobal David Padron 120,178 (48.1%)
COUNTY COURT
GROUP 29
In this three-way contest that included former Judge Scott Janowitz, we have a runoff as no candidate received a majority of the vote. Here are the results:
Christopher Benjamin 98,069 (38.7%)
Alina Salines Restrepo 91,014 (35.9%)
Scott Janowitz 64,131 (25.3%)
Benjamin and Restrepo will face off on November 5th in the General Election.
GROUP 31
In the closest race of the evening, Incumbent Judge Christopher Green held on to his seat squeaking by his opponent, Rita Maria Baez.
Christopher Green 126,770 (50.8%)
Rita Maria Baez 122,628 (49.2%)
In the most closely watched contest of the evening, Miami-Dade County will elect a Sheriff in November. This was as the result of a 2018 referendum in which 58% of Miami-Dade voters joined a statewide supermajority in approving a constitutional amendment requiring that the county join Florida’s 66 other counties in having an elected Sheriff. Early on, you may recall that former Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez was the odds-on favorite to win this election. But, he dropped out of the race last September following an attempted suicide.
In the Republican primary, Assistant Director of Investigative Services for the MDPD Rosie Cordero-Stutz, a 28-year veteran of the force, beat out Florida Highway Patrol PIO Joe Sanchez to win her primary. Cordero-Stutz collected 27,065 votes to Sanchez’s 24,685. Nine other candidates were also in that contest.
Cordero-Stutz will face off against the Democratic primary winner, Chief of Public Safety for Miami-Dade County James Reyes, as he collected 51,291 votes (46.0%). He beat three other candidates, with the closest one being Rickey Mitchell who had 23,365 votes (21.0%).
Finally, in our favorite named candidate contest, that goes to Pitchie “Peachy” Escarment. She ran for a seat on the Miami Gardens Council, Seat 5, At Large. Unfortunately for Peachy, you will not be able to address her as Council Member Escarment as she came in fifth place in a six-person race.
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