Jesse Scheckner
Just as it did during her inaugural run at the county’s top office in 2020, pro-LGBTQ group Equality Florida Action PAC is again endorsing Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, this time for re-election.
The organization’s Chair, Stratton Pollitzer, called Levine Cava “an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ community — standing as our proud ally in the face of growing hostility in Florida.”
“Equality Florida Action PAC is proud to endorse Mayor Daniella Levine Cava for re-election,” he said in a statement.
“In times like these the LGBTQ community must and will work as hard for Mayor Daniella as she has worked for all of us every day. We are all-in for her reelection and consider it a top priority for Florida’s LGBTQ community.”
Levine Cava has indeed been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights and equality. As a Miami-Dade Commissioner, she was the first person elected to the dais to file expressly LGBTQ-focused measures, a resolution urging the federal government to condemn the Cuban regime for actions against LGBTQ people.
She also successfully backed another measure recognizing every June as LGBTQ Pride Month in the county and was among eight Commissioners in 2014 to approve an ordinance banning discrimination based on gender identity.
Miami-Dade’s first woman and Jewish Mayor, Levine Cava held the county’s first Pride flag event at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center after assuming the mayoralty in 2021. At this year’s event, she said, “We say gay. We say trans,” referring to Florida’s expanded Parental Rights in Education law that among other things restricts LGBTQ-inclusive instruction and policies in all public school grades. Critics call the law “Don’t Say Gay.”
The Equality Florida endorsement comes near the end of LGBTQ History Month, which the Miami-Dade School Board voted against recognizing for the second consecutive year in September. Members who chose to snub the month cited the Parental Rights law, despite advice from the School Board’s attorney that the authorizing item didn’t run afoul of the law.
Levine Cava called the 5-3 vote “further weaponizing parental rights laws in an attempt to eradicate equality.”
“I want to be clear; as your Mayor, I will always support, recognize and protect the LGBTQ community and all students and families in our county,” she said at the time.
She said Wednesday that she is “truly honored” to once more win Equality Florida’s support.
“As Mayor, my commitment is clear,” she said. “I will continue working to protect the rights of all our residents, because everyone deserves the freedom to be their true selves without fear of judgment, discrimination, or violence.”
The nod from Equality Florida joins support from SAVE Action PAC, South Florida’s longest-running LGBTQ advocacy group, and others from the South Florida AFL-CIO, AFSCME Florida, Sierra Club, United Here Local 355 and 25 of Miami-Dade’s 34 municipal Mayors.
In the third quarter of 2023, Levine Cava crossed the $3.5 million mark in fundraising for her re-election.
Three candidates are running to unseat her: Republican Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid, who collected $116,000 in his first month of fundraising; Republican YouTube influencer Alex Otaola, who has raised $160,000 since entering the race in April; and fellow Democrat Miguel “el Skipper” Quintero, a trapeze artist who has amassed about $3,300 since launching his campaign in March.
All candidates for Miami-Dade Mayor will compete against one another in the Aug. 20, 2024, Primary Election, regardless of party affiliation.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the two top vote-earners will compete in a runoff culminating in the Nov. 5, 2024, General Election.
