Jesse Scheckner
Former Rep. Mike Grieco added $50,000 more in April toward his bid for Miami Beach Mayor, according to his campaign, which says he also collected 1,000 petition signatures supporting his candidacy.
Greico’s reported fundraising haul would bring his war chest total to more than $400,000 between his campaign account and political committee in just three months. Official figures are due Wednesday.
“Miami Beach voters deserve a Mayor with experience who will get things done for our residents,” he said in a statement. “I have been honored to serve the people of Miami Beach for more than a decade, and I will continue to be a leader for our community who will stand up for small business owners, fix our roads and infrastructure, increase public safety, and prepare our Miami Beach for the future.”
Grieco, who announced his candidacy for Mayor Feb. 1, is running to succeed Dan Gelber, a fellow Democrat, as Miami Beach’s top elected official.
Despite his political and legislative bona fides — he’s a former state prosecutor, Miami Beach Commissioner and a two-term state lawmaker — Grieco is billing himself as a “City Hall outsider” who views the mayoralty as “not about ribbon cutting and grand openings” but “shaping a vision and a future” to unite residents.
This isn’t Grieco’s first run for Mayor. He sought the office in 2017 while serving on the City Commission but resigned after it was revealed he received unauthorized contributions from a political action committee with which he initially denied affiliation. He later pleaded no contest to a first-degree misdemeanor, which included a six-month moratorium on his running for another elected office.
Grieco won election in 2018 to the House, where he set himself apart as an outside-the-box lawmaker. Proposals he filed for the 2022 Legislative Session include a measure that would have allowed for therapeutic studies of psychedelics, MDMA and ketamine, as well as “Greyson’s Law,” a measure aimed at enhancing protections for children against parental harm. While that bill failed to pass last year, the Legislature unanimously approved a revised version last month.
Three others are running to replace Gelber, who won re-election to a third and final two-year term in November 2021. The most prominent is former Democratic Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Góngora, who has reported raising almost $460,000 through his campaign account and political committee and also lists support from an electioneering communications organization called A Better Future for Miami Beach, which raised $145,500 through March 31.
Two other candidates — Republican David Hundley and Jerry Caggia, a nightclub promoter who since April 2021 has owned and operated Yacht Now Miami — have yet to report any fundraising or spending.
Miami Beach will hold its General Election Nov. 7. Three other offices — the Group 4, 5 and 6 seats of the City Commission — are also up for grabs.
A runoff, if necessary, would be held Nov. 21.
