Christian Family Coalition endorses ‘highly qualified’ Manny Cid for Miami-Dade Mayor

Image viaManny Cid.

Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid is more than up to the task of serving as Miami-Dade County’s top executive official, according to the Christian Family Coalition Florida.

The Miami-based group is backing Cid’s bid to unseat incumbent county Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

It cited, among other things, his record while leading Miami Lakes, support for prayer before government meetings and displaying “In God We Trust” at County Hall, and his opposition to flying the LGBTQ flag and defunding the police.

“Mayor Manny Cid earned the sought-after ‘highly qualified’ rating from the Christian Family Coalition Florida for the extraordinary work he’s done in the city, Miami Lakes, keeping crime and taxes low,” the organization’s founder and Executive Director, Antony Verdugo, said in a statement.

“If that is any indication of what he will do in Miami-Dade County, we need him as our new Mayor as soon as possible!”

The Christian Family Coalition nod to Cid follows endorsements from the Florida East Coast chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors and Miami Young Republicans.

“I’m honored to receive the highest qualification of any candidate running for Mayor of Miami-Dade County from the Christian Family Coalition,” he said in a statement.

“There is a war against the middle-class in the 305. The Levine Cava administration seeks to create a binary community where only the extremely wealthy and very poor exist, similar to Los Angeles and Chicago. The middle-class is the engine of our community and we must do everything in our power to protect working families and small businesses.”

Aside from the police funding issue, the Christian Family Coalition did not include financial considerations in its candidates scorecard for Miami-Dade.

The group, which last month helped Turning Point Action host a “Believers Summit” in West Palm Beach featuring Donald Trump, is also supporting U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and Republican U.S. Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart and María Elvira Salazar for re-election. It credited the lawmakers’ opposition to “abortion on demand” and a “homosexual marriage law” as factoring into their endorsements.

On its Facebook page, the Christian Family Coalition states that a proposed amendment on the Nov. 5 ballot, Amendment 4, “could allow abortion up to the ninth month of gestation.”

The measure, which recent polling indicates has 69% support among Florida voters, would prohibit legislation designed to “prohibit, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, or as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”

Fetuses are generally viable at 24 weeks of pregnancy, according to the National Health Service. That’s six months, not nine.

Cid, a Republican, and Levine Cava, a Democrat are running in the technically nonpartisan contest for Mayor against five others. Three are Republicans: former Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danginzer, actor Carlos Garín and social media influencer Alex Otaola.

Also running are Miami-Dade Libertarian Party Vice Chair Miguel Quintero and no-party transport executive Eddy Rojas.

All appear on the ballot for Miami-Dade’s Aug. 20 Primary, the early voting for which is now underway.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote to win outright, the two biggest vote-getters will face off in a runoff culminating in the Nov. 5 General Election. That’s likely to happen, with the two runoff candidates being Cid and Levine Cava, internal polling by Cid’s campaign found in May.