Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
The mayor of Miami-Dade County is criticizing his opponent for politicizing the shooting in Orlando over the weekend.
In an email Monday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said it found it reprehensible that Raquel Regalado, his opponent, used the shooting in Orlando — which left 49 people dead and 53 people injured — “as an opportunity to raise money for her campaign and a pretext to attack me.”
“That is just wrong and undignified, and I call on her to retract that email and issue a public apology,” he said in a statement. “With victims still yet to be identified and survivors recovering in hospitals, our thoughts should be with them — not on our political pursuits. Meanwhile, the people of Miami-Dade County, and I as their mayor, will continue to find ways to respectfully support Orlando.”
Regalado sent an email to supporters Monday afternoon calling for action following the shooting. In the email, Regalado said there needed to be an “open and meaningful dialogue on how to curb gun violence, and especially the access and use of semi-automatic weapons.”
She also criticized Gimenez, saying he needed to “reinstate the special units he dismantled in 2014 and support our Miami-Dade County Police.”
“One of the reasons I am running for mayor of Miami-Dade is because we need someone who will build up our police force, not tear it down,” she said the email, at the bottom of which was a button encouraging readers to support her campaign.
Gimenez, a former firefighter and fire chief, said there is “a time to politic and a time to lead.”
“In the wake of the Orlando tragedy, now is a time to act and lead responsibly,” he said. “As a former firefighter, fire chief and now mayor, I have sadly been on the front line of many tragedies and emergencies. These are difficult moments that also demand that we be introspective as we empathize with the trauma of the survivors, the pain of the victims’ families and the grief of a community.”
Gimenez has called on Regalado to issue a public apology for her message.
