Mario Knapp endorses former GOP Primary foe Rosie Cordero-Stutz for Miami-Dade Sheriff

Retired Miami-Dade Police Maj. Mario Knapp is urging voters to get behind his former coworker and Primary opponent, Assistant Miami-Dade Police Director Rosie Cordero-Stutz, in the General Election for Sheriff.

Knapp, who placed third Tuesday in an 11-candidate Republican Primary for the county’s top cop post, lauded Cordero-Stutz’s record and said she’s the best choice for voters on the Nov. 5 ballot.

“Rosie’s dedicated her life to public safety and public service here in Miami-Dade, and I think it’s really important that right now, finally that we have our Republican candidate, that we get behind Rosie, that we join forces with Rosie, that we support her in any way we can, because we want to make sure that Miami-Dade does not become Chicago,” Knapp said in an Instagram post Wednesday.

Chicago, a deeply blue metropolis, has one of the nation’s highest rates of gun violence and homicides, leading some to bestow it the unenviable title of America’s “murder capital.”

It’s also where the Democratic National Convention is happening.

Cordero-Stutz now faces Miami-Dade Chief of Public Safety James Reyes, who won a four-way Democratic Primary for Sheriff. Reyes took 46% of the vote to clinch his spot on the Nov. 5 ballot — more than double the share his closest competitor took.

Cordero-Stutz, meanwhile, received 24% of the vote in her Primary, outpacing Florida State Trooper Joe Sanchez, Knapp and Miami-Dade Police Lt. Ernie Rodriguez, who took 22%, 14% and 10% of the vote, respectively.

Notably, neither Cordero-Stutz nor Reyes are Miami-Dade residents. Cordero-Stutz has lived in Broward County since before the turn of the century. Reyes has lived there since 2008 and, until late 2022 when Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava hired him to run the county’s prison system, he was an executive with the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Levine Cava promoted Reyes to Chief of Public Safety — a role in which he oversees the Police, Fire Rescue and Corrections Departments — less than a month after the county’s former Police Director, Freddy Ramirez, dropped out of the Sheriff’s race following an attempted suicide.

Knapp’s nod to Cordero-Stutz joins others from former President Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Rick Scott, U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart and U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, whose son and daughter-in-law run Cordero-Stutz’s campaign.

Twenty-seven current Florida Sheriffs and former Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez are also behind her.

Reyes carries endorsements from Levine Cava, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, numerous local elected leaders, the Kendall Federation PAC, South Florida PBA and AFSCME Florida, among others.