Jesse Scheckner
High school teacher Bryan Paz-Hernandez is celebrating a grassroots milestone this week. He said he and his campaign team have now knocked on more than 4,000 doors in the Miami-Dade Commission district he hopes to serve at County Hall after this year’s election.
Paz-Hernandez is also blasting his incumbent opponent, Rob Gonzalez, for skipping a recent forum featuring him and another District 11 candidate that a local homeowners’ association held last month.
He said his broad outreach efforts and willingness to discuss his vision for Miami-Dade’s future, in contrast with Gonzalez’s apparent reticence, should sway voters his way.
Paz-Hernandez said he “really enjoyed” going home to home and speaking with residents from District 11, which covers a swath of unincorporated neighborhoods on the country’s west side.
“I’ve learned first-hand that what people want is to stop overdevelopment of apartment complexes and for bold action on reducing property taxes and property insurance rates,” he said.
“On day one, I’ll deliver on those issues as the people’s Commissioner (and) fight to reduce property taxes and establish a moratorium on new development.”
On June 20, the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations (KFHA) hosted the first of several planned Miami-Dade candidates forums. The event included four candidates for county Mayor, two candidates who are vying for Property Appraiser, and Paz-Hernandez and Claudia Rainville, a fellow teacher and District 11 candidate.
Similar to what he told Florida Politics earlier this year, Paz-Hernandez told attendees his priorities for the district include, among other things, reducing traffic congestion, upholding protections of vulnerable wetlands and combatting wasteful government spending.
To that last point, he lambasted Gonzalez, a Gov. Ron DeSantis appointee, for having two district offices, including one that now sits empty, which will cost taxpayers $1 million over the next nine years.
Paz-Hernandez also bashed Gonzalez for his absence at the event, taping a piece of paper to an empty chair that read, “Tallahassee Appointed Commissioner.”
“What is Mr. Gonzalez afraid of?” he asked the forum’s attendees. “You guys don’t bite. You want to ask the Commissioner questions about what’s important to you, like traffic, like the high cost of living, (and) I’m pretty sure there is no (more) important place to be if you’re running for Commissioner than with the people.”
He then brought up a social media post that Gonzalez, a lawyer, published May 30 on Instagram after ex-President Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Similar to others shared online by Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and “Stop the Steal” rally organizer Ali Alexander, among many others, Gonzalez’s post displayed an upside-down American flag, which historically was used to signal dire distress in instances of extreme danger but has more recently been adopted as a pro-Trump protest symbol.
Gonzalez’s post lamented the verdict, which he called “another dangerous step toward the politicization of our judicial system that will only serve to further divide our nation.”
“Join me in praying for our nation during these dark times,” Gonzalez wrote.
The flag image and accompanying text included the official seal of Miami-Dade County and Gonzalez’s government title.
“That kind of politics is beneath an elected official,” Paz-Hernandez said. “I love this country, and I see that as a real sign of disrespect.”
District 11 encompasses the neighborhoods of Country Walk, Hammocks, Kendale Lakes, Kendall, Bent Tree, Lake of the Meadows and West Kendall.
Paz-Hernandez, a former Democratic field organizer and President of the West Kendall Democrats Club, is running as an independent for the District 11 seat this year. Gonzalez and Rainville are both Republicans.
But all will be on the Aug. 20 ballot, since the Miami-Dade Commission and its races are technically nonpartisan.
If no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote in the Primary, the two biggest vote-getters will square off in the Nov. 5 General Election.
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