Jesse Scheckner
One of Miami’s most resilient and outspoken politicians wants to see Kevin Marino Cabrera elected to the Miami-Dade County Commission.
In a Monday statement, two-time Miami Mayor and current Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo threw his support behind Cabrera, a government relations specialist who is running for the District 6 seat on the County Commission.
“Kevin Marino Cabrera is the right candidate for the Miami-Dade County Commission,” said Carollo, who is now five years into his third stint as a Miami Commissioner.
“The residents of Miami need someone that’s going to fight for them at the County Commission, and I think Kevin will be that person,” he said.
The nod from Carollo is the 15th endorsement Cabrera has received since launching his campaign in April and the second from a Miami Commissioner. Last week, Alex Diaz de la Portilla, a former state Senator and current member of the City Commission, said he is “proud” to back Cabrera.
Cabrera said he looks forward to working Carollo, Diaz de la Portilla and their “colleagues to make sure the residents of Miami have a strong advocate in County Hall.”
A Miami Republican who works as a senior vice president for the global strategy firm Mercury, Cabrera worked for years as an operative for numerous GOP politicians, including as Florida State Director for former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee in 2020. He’s also worked in various roles for former Gov. Jeb Bush, former U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo and Florida Supreme Court Justice John Couriel.
Trump has endorsed Cabrera’s campaign, as have U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, Florida Chief Financial Officer and Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis, Miami state Rep. Daniel Perez, Hialeah Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo, Hialeah City Council members Bryan Calvo, Vivian Casals Muñoz and Luis Rodriguez, Council President Carl Zogby, and Miami-Dade state Rep. Anthony Rodriguez, who is running for another seat on the County Commission.
Cabrera has also received support from the Hispanic Police Officers Association, a regional state chapter of the Service Employees International Union and the local chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors.
Cabrera, who is married to Republican state Rep. Demi Busatta Cabrera, has held public office once, serving as an elected Councilman on a Miami-Dade land-use zoning board.
This year, he faces three opponents in the technically nonpartisan contest to succeed longtime District 6 Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, who must leave office due to term limits voters approved in 2012.
Two of his opponents — entrepreneur Dariel Fernandez and Coral Gables Commissioner Jorge Fors Jr., who secured an endorsement from Sosa — are fellow Republicans. The lone Democrat in the race is Miami Springs Councilman Victor Vázquez, a lifelong educator and Air Force veteran.
District 6 covers a central portion of Miami-Dade, including part or all of the cities of Miami Springs, Virginia Gardens and West Miami; parts of Coral Gables, Hialeah and Miami; and some of the county’s unincorporated area. The district also contains Miami International Airport, one of the county’s top two economic engines, and a Miami golf course being redeveloped as a soccer stadium complex for the city’s Major League Soccer team, Inter Miami CF.
Miami-Dade law requires a County Commission candidate to receive more than half the votes cast during the Aug. 23 Primary to win office.
If no candidate captures that share of the vote, the two candidates who receive the highest number of votes will compete in a runoff Nov. 8.
