Donald Trump endorses Esteban ‘Steve’ Bovo for Hialeah Mayor

Trump Bovo
Already a frontrunner in the race, Trump's endorsement makes Bovo all but a shoo-in.

Republican Esteban “Steve” Bovo Jr. received what is likely the most valuable backing possible for members of his party Thursday when former President Donald Trump issued a ringing endorsement for his bid to be the city of Hialeah’s next Mayor.

“Steve has always fought for conservative principles,” Trump said in a written statement. “He understands the importance of fiscal discipline and the need to eliminate burdensome regulations that choke the economy. Hialeah is a shining example of America’s entrepreneurial spirit. Bovo gets that small businesses, not the government, are the job creators. He will fight to get government out of the way.”

Already a front-runner to succeed Carlos Hernández in the Hialeah Mayor seat — Hernández must leave office because of term limits — Bovo is all but a shoo-in after Trump’s endorsement.

Born in Queens, New York, Bovo first served in a public capacity when he won a Hialeah City Council seat in 1998. His colleagues on the Council later selected him to be their president.

Ten years later, he successfully ran for a seat in the Florida House to represent District 110. He won reelection two years later unopposed.

Bovo then won a seat on the nonpartisan Miami-Dade County Commission in 2010 and led the body as chair during the 2017-2018 term. He frequently took moderate, conservative positions from the dais, and his interest spanned a spectrum of issues reflected in his legislation and leadership roles, with transportation taking precedence in the latter years of his commissionership.

In 2020, months before he would have had to resign due to term limits, he left office to run for County Mayor, a race he ultimately lost to Daniella Levine Cava. His campaign positioned him as a conservative alternative to Levine Cava’s “liberal agenda.”

Bovo has “tackled the status quo,” Trump wrote, by spearheading the successful passage of Miami-Dade County pension reforms and the term limits that last year forced him to leave office. Endorsements by the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, Fraternal Order of Police, and Hialeah Association of Firefighters reflect Bovo’s “front and center” support of first responders, Trump wrote.

“I also have no doubt that Steve will (stand up) to the far-left agenda that looks to change America. Steve, like so many families in Hialeah, knows how socialism destroys a country from within with policies that give government way too much power over our lives,” Trump wrote. “The great people of Hialeah understand the importance of electing good candidates to local government that will stop the social experiments of the extremists and their reckless tax and spending agenda that’s crippling communities and killing jobs.”

Trump enjoyed massive support in Hialeah, Florida’s fifth-most-populous city and the second-most populous municipality in Miami-Dade County. His share of the vote in November ranged from 70% to 78% at precincts across the city.

Gov. Ron DeSantis in February committed to supporting Bovo if he ran for Hialeah Mayor, encouraging him to “go ahead and throw your hat into the ring.”

Fellow Republican and former Hialeah Council member Isis Garcia-Martinez is also running for the technically nonpartisan position. She made city history as the first Hispanic woman to serve as Hialeah Council president.

In March, she characterized Bovo’s candidacy as a “backup plan” to his primary goal of being elected Miami-Dade Mayor. Hialeah, she said, deserves “a Mayor who thinks of them first and not … because he is out of options and needs a job.”

Other candidates include Fernando Godo, a previous City Council candidate and activist who led calls in 2019 to oust Hernández; Julio Martinez, who ran in 2013; and Hialeah Resident Juan Santana, who ran for Mayor in 2013 and 2017.

But according to Trump, no one is better suited for the job than Bovo.

“As Mayor, Bovo will fight for the values that are now under attack by the Radical Left,” he wrote. “That’s why I’m asking the amazing people of Hialeah to join me in this fight by supporting Esteban ‘Steve’ Bovo for Mayor of Hialeah. He has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”

Florida Politics contacted Bovo for comment but did not receive a response by press time.

Jesse Scheckner

Jesse Scheckner has covered South Florida with a focus on Miami-Dade County since 2012. His work has been recognized by the Hearst Foundation, Society of Professional Journalists, Florida Society of News Editors, Florida MMA Awards and Miami New Times. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @JesseScheckner.


9 comments

  • Impeach Biden

    October 7, 2021 at 8:16 pm

    Respect Dade County. They threw our Shalala and Mucarsel-Powell out last election. Keep it going.

    • Alex

      October 7, 2021 at 8:29 pm

      Imp is on a hot streak tonight!

      Now try something that passes for intelligent and I’ll give you a cookie.

      • Impeach Biden

        October 7, 2021 at 8:45 pm

        shove that cookie where the sun doesn’t shine troll. Going to be laughing my ass off in 2022. Put gas in your car lately or is mommy still covering the credit card?

        • Alex

          October 7, 2021 at 8:51 pm

          Bwahahahahahahah!!!!

          You lost your cool.

          What’s that now?

          7-8 times I’ve owned you?

          • Impeach Biden

            October 7, 2021 at 8:55 pm

            Bwahahahahaha. You own nothing troll. Ill still be laughing in 2022. Mommy must be paying.

        • Alex

          October 7, 2021 at 9:03 pm

          Sleep well in the knowledge you get owned easily by your betters.

          Lol

  • Alex

    October 7, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    “The values under attack by the radical left”

    Lying, telling the same lie over and over after being shown it’s a lie, forgetting what lies you told yesterday so you have to make up a new set live on tv, pretending you know everything and can do any job better than anyone with zero education or studying, inventing ridiculous conspiracy theories that never have a shred of evidence to support them, filing lawsuits that instantly get tossed out because they have nothing but BS to back up the claims, and on and on.

    Those values.

    Lol

    This guy is a raving mad lunatic.

  • Flordelis Grotestan

    October 7, 2021 at 9:46 pm

    What about Donal Trump’s advisers? Whoever gave that reference first endorsed Marcos Rubio and now Vovo, we have worn ourselves out in the streets denouncing fraud and these Rinos were unable to support him, they were against him now if we are lost we are sentenced to socialism with so much political corruption I think not I’ll go more to an urn

  • Maria Bornot

    October 7, 2021 at 9:59 pm

    And does Trump know who campaigned for him not only in Hialeah but in all of Miami? Because those that he is endorsing turned their backs to the right when we need it most, it is a Rinos factory, it was Julio Martínez, the start of your campaign and we the people, not these Rinos.

Comments are closed.


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