Rosie Cordero-Stutz blasts Sheriff foe for mocking Donald Trump endorsement: ‘He wasn’t qualified to receive it’

Assistant Miami-Dade Police Director Rosie Cordero-Stutz has an explanation for why one of her opponents for Sheriff has been bashing her out-of-county residency and recent endorsement from Donald Trump: He’s jealous.

In a video posted to X, Cordero-Stutz addressed comments from Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) Trooper Joe Sanchez highlighting that she and two other Sheriff candidates live in Broward and downplaying the value of a Trump nod.

“One of my opponents has a lot to say about me on social media. He even goes so far as to mock President Trump’s endorsement of me. But let’s be honest,” she said. “We all know the only reason he’s mocking the endorsement is that he wasn’t qualified enough to receive it.”

Cordero-Stutz said that while she spent decades working through the ranks of the Miami-Dade Police Department, Sanchez was building a reputation as a “career politician” and now hopes to “coast his way to victory.”

“But now he’s in a fight that he didn’t expect,” she said. “Being Sheriff of the nation’s seventh-largest Police Department takes a lot more than posting videos on social media or showing up for Cafecito. … Just like a typical politician, he thinks he can buy the Sheriff’s election and then hire the real law enforcement executives to do the job while he poses for photo ops.

“That’s why all of our other opponents, current and retired Miami-Dade law enforcement professionals have no respect for him. He has no business being Sheriff.”

Sanchez, a 52-year Miami-Dade resident, served eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve and has been an FHP member since 1987. In 1996, he received a Medal of Valor for his leadership of the ValuJet search and rescue effort.

He was working as an FHP public information officer when he announced in January that he’d be taking a leave of absence to run for the returning Sheriff post.

Sanchez said this week that Cordero-Stutz and others in the race are busying themselves amassing endorsements from high-profile politicians rather than garnering support from Miami-Dade residents of whom she can’t count herself as a member.

“I’m a product of this community,” he said Monday in a one-minute video posted to X. “I lived in Miami-Dade all my life, unlike other candidates who live in Broward but want to run for this important position in our county.”

The criticism from Sanchez — who leads Cordero-Stutz and 11 other Republican candidates in fundraising — followed reporting from WLRN that she, Miami-Dade Public Safety Chief James Reyes and Miami-Dade Police Maj. John Barrow don’t live in the county whose Sheriff’s Office they hope to lead. Reyes and Barrow are Democrats.

It also came less than a week after Trump, the GOP nominee for President, posted on his Truth Social website that Cordero-Stutz has his “Complete and Total Endorsement” in the Sheriff contest.

“(She) has proven she knows how to Crack Down on Crime, Support our Great Law Enforcement, and Keep our People Safe,” Trump wrote April 24.

U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, the immediate past Mayor of Miami-Dade, quickly amplified the former President’s message on X, writing, “President Trump knows how to pick WINNERS! … Rosie is a law-and-order candidate who will protect Miami-Dade County residents as our sheriff.”

Of note, Giménez’s daughter-in-law, Tania Cruz-Giménez, is running Cordero-Stutz’s campaign. Carlos Giménez endorsed Cordero-Stutz in February. So did retired Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez, who served under and reported to Giménez until his retirement in January 2020, calling Cordero-Stutz “a cop’s cop, through and through.”

But according to Sanchez, who last month launched an “Endorsements that Matter” video series featuring lesser-known residents whom he’s helped during his law enforcement career, Cordero-Stutz is wasting time touting Trump, Giménez and Perez’s support.

“While other candidates have been spending their time looking for all kinds of endorsements, the only endorsement I want is yours — the people of Miami-Dade,” he said.

Sanchez described himself as “the only candidate who can bring true independence to (the) Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.”

“I’ve been a Republican all my life. I stand with President Trump and Gov. (Ron) DeSantis,” he said. “That’s why my campaign is all about law and order since Day 1.”

Sanchez leads the crowded GOP field vying for Sheriff in fundraising with more than $415,000 raised since October. Cordero-Stutz has raised $166,000 over the same stretch for fourth-most gains among Republican candidates, behind Miami-Dade Police Maj. Mario Knapp and cop-turned-lawyer Ignacio “Iggy” Alvarez.

Reyes, who spent all but two years of his 24-year law enforcement career with the Broward Sheriff’s Office, leads three other Democrats with almost $480,000 raised since May — seven months before he announced his candidacy.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, also a Democrat, endorsed Reyes in February. Barrow decried the move as “disrespectful to voters.”

Miami-Dade hasn’t had an elected Sheriff since 1966, when county voters eliminated the position after a grand jury found rampant corruption within the department. Instead, Miami-Dade has a Police Director, who is appointed by and reports to the Mayor.

That arrangement is changing this year. In 2018, 58% of Miami-Dade voters joined a statewide supermajority in approving a constitutional amendment requiring all 67 counties in Florida to have an elected Sheriff, Tax Collector, Property Appraiser and Clerk of Courts by early 2025.

Levine Cava and members of the County Commission resisted the coming change and tried to set up an arrangement where the Sheriff and appointed Police Director would operate concurrently.

During the 2023 Legislative Session, however, lawmakers approved a pair of bills prohibiting the duplication of Sheriff powers.

The Primary Election is on Aug. 20, followed by the General Election on Nov. 5.