Miami Gardens voters keep Mayor, oust 2 City Council members, send third to runoff

(L-R) Miami Gardens Council Member Robert Stephens III, Miami Gardens Mayor Rodney Harris and Miami Gardens Council Membesr Katrina Wilson and Shannon Campbell held a press conference last week at the Hard Rock Stadium announcing the new small business program funded by Formula One and administered through the Community Fund of North Miami Dade. Image via 3PM Media.

Miami Gardens voters re-elected Mayor Rodney Harris, replaced two City Council members and sent a third to a runoff.

Harris secured a second term as Mayor with 69% of the vote, far outpacing former Council member Erhabor Ighodaro and Lavern Deer, who took 20% and 11%, respectively. Ighodaro previously ran for the Senate, losing badly to Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones in 2022 in a contest that saw Ighodaro draw rebukes for anti-LGBTQ remarks.

A juvenile probation officer, Harris has spent nearly his entire adult career in government and has served in elected office for close to 12 years, including as a Council member and Vice Mayor.

He is Miami Gardens’ third Mayor since its 2003 incorporation.

Educator-turned-nonprofit director Katrina Baskin, a political newcomer, ousted Council member Shannon Campbell and outpaced third-place candidate Mike Horne to take Seat 1 on the panel.

Baskin took 52% of the vote to win outright. Campbell got 33%, while Horne received the remainder.

A press note from her campaign said she is “excited to get to work and create a new environment of fresh initiatives, resources and opportunities” for Miami Gardens residents.

For Seat 3, longtime resident and community activist Michelle Powell unseated incumbent Shannan “Lady” Ighodaro, Erhabor’s wife, with 62% of the vote.

Incumbent Linda Julien will have to wait until November to see whether she’ll get a second four-year term in Seat 5, one of two Council posts, along with the Mayor, that are elected at large.

A real estate professional and college professor, Julien outperformed five challengers at the ballot box Tuesday, capturing 48% of the vote. But she needed more than a 50% share to win outright.

She’ll face her best-performing opponent, nonprofit CEO Karen Hunter-Jackson, who received 18% of the vote. Jackson leads One Community Alliance Network and is a longtime public servant, having previously worked for 17 years as Vice President of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Roughly 24% of Miami Gardens’ 67,218 registered voters cast ballots in the Primary. The city is Florida’s largest majority-Black municipality and leans heavily Democratic. Sixty-six percent of the city’s residents are registered Democrats, compared to 10% who are Republican and 24% who either belong to a third-party group or have no political affiliation.

The General Election is on Nov. 5.