Rhonda Anderson faces Felix Pardo, Laureano Cancio in Coral Gables re-election bid

(L-R) Rhonda Anderson, Felix Pardo and Laureano Cancio. Images via the candidates.

Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson is running to keep the Group 2 seat on the Coral Gables Commission that she won in 2021 with 73% of the vote. Two candidates, Felix Pardo and Laureano Cancio, hope to supplant her.

All three candidates agree that tempers on the five-member panel need cooling. They’re also opposed to overdevelopment in the city, albeit to different degrees.

The Group 2 race and a pair of others for Mayor and the Commission’s Group 4 seat will realign power at City Hall after two years of turmoil there.

Anderson and ally Vince Lago, the incumbent, two-term Mayor, have frequently been on the losing side of controversial votes, including ones to hire and fire multiple City Managers and give hefty pay raises to Commission members.

Tuesday will mark the first time they’ve been on the ballot since 2021, since the Mayor’s term is two years and Commissioners serve four-year terms, and voters can either reaffirm their belief in the pair’s work or replace them.

Anderson, a 64-year-old lawyer, was active in the community long before she sought public office. She ran in 2021 vowing to fight development incongruous with the city’s character and has generally kept that promise, pushing to increase development setbacks, improve pedestrian safety provisions and expand green spaces.

She did vote with all four of her Commission peers last May to approve what will be one of the city’s tallest buildings, Regency Parc, but with a sizable reduction to the project’s proposed density to mitigate traffic impacts.

Anderson counts the city’s septic-to-sewer conversion program, undergrounding utility lines, increased tree canopy and expanded recreational provisions among her first-term accomplishments.

She raised $77,500 through her campaign account and had $42,000 left on March 21.

After losing a vote 3-2 that raised salaries for the Mayor, Vice Mayor and three other City Commission members, Anderson and Lago said they would donate their extra pay to charity. Neither provided proof of doing so when asked by the Miami Herald, which nevertheless endorsed her for re-election, as did Miami’s Community News.

Pardo, a 70-year-old architect, has a deep and broad history of community involvement. He’s been a member of the city’s Planning and Zoning Board, Board of Architects, Board of Adjustments, Culture Grants Board, Construction Regulation Board, Parks and Recreation Board, and Charter Review Board, among others.

He supported Anderson’s candidacy in 2021 but said he’s since lost faith in her, blaming “unbridled construction” across the city as proof she hasn’t followed through on her commitment to preserve the city.

Pardo raised $29,500 and spent close to $10,000 by March 21. He carries endorsements from the city’s police, fire and general employee unions and the anti-development Coral Gables Neighborhood Association, which backed Anderson four years ago.

Cancio, a 74-year-old lawyer who specializes in labor law, similarly wants to tamp down on development. He told the Herald he also intends to increase arts funding and ensure there are sufficient school options for resident children.

To do that, he proposes establishing a city-run school system separate from Miami-Dade County’s.

Between when he filed to run on Dec. 13 and March 21, the last day from which campaign finance data is available, Cancio raised and spent about $1,700, all of it from his or his wife’s bank accounts.

Anderson and Pardo are Democrats, while Cancio is a Republican. Coral Gables’ elections are technically nonpartisan.