Jesse Scheckner
Former Rep. David Richardson is now running for Miami-Dade County Tax Collector with an endorsement from LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, the self-described “only national organization devoted to electing pro-equality, pro-choice LGBTQ+ leaders.”
“As a trailblazer for LGBTQ+ representation in Florida, David has consistently championed equality and inclusion,” said the group’s President, Houston Mayor Annise Parker.
“His dedication to public service and his strong track record of fiscal responsibility make him the ideal candidate to serve as Tax Collector, protecting our tax dollars and championing residents from all walks of life.”
A forensic auditor and CPA, Richardson donned the nickname “The Budget Guy” to accentuate his penchant for numbers during his successful 2019 campaign for the Miami Beach City Commission.
He’s worked in both the public and private sectors, beginning his more than 30-year career as an auditor for the U.S. Department of Defense. In 1993, he opened his own small business focused on forensic auditing of government contracts. He has continued as a CPA since.
He made history in 2012 as one of the first openly gay candidates elected to the Legislature and won re-election twice before departing for local office. As a state lawmaker, he sponsored legislation to ban pseudoscientific “conversion therapy” and repeal Florida Statutes defining marriage as only being between a man and woman, among other things.
Richardson said he is honored to receive LGBTQ+ Victory Fund’s endorsement.
“We’ve made so much progress in the years since I was the first-elected openly gay member of the Florida Legislature, but we’ve got so much work left to do,” he said in a statement.
“This endorsement is a testament to our shared values of equality and public service that puts the needs of the people first. I am committed to representing the interests of every resident of Miami-Dade County, and I will work tirelessly to ensure that our government is accessible, transparent, and accountable to the people.”
Richardson vows, if elected as Miami-Dade’s first voter-chosen Tax Collector in more than half a century, to reform the office and its services to make it more efficient, accessible and customer-friendly. That includes a “smooth transfer of all currently state-run Department of Motor Vehicle offices to be managed by the newly elected Tax Collector,” his campaign said.
Miami-Dade hasn’t had an elected Tax Collector since 1957, when county voters adopted a Home Rule Charter abolishing a few constitutional offices — including Tax Collector and Supervisor of Elections — and conferring their powers to the County Manager, who appointed people to those posts.
The authority has fallen to the county Mayor, now Daniella Levine Cava, since 2007, when Miami-Dade voters approved a “strong Mayor” system.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund nod joins others from Levine Cava and local unions.
Richardson appears to have a clear path to the Nov. 5 General Election. No other Democrat has filed to run against him in the Democratic Primary.
He’ll face the winner of a three-way Republican Primary contest between Hialeah Council member Bryan Calvo, entrepreneur and former Miami-Dade Commission candidate Dariel Fernandez, and Ricardo David Gomez. The Primary Election is on Aug. 20.
