Miami-Dade’s District 8 has the only incumbent running for county commission

Among the 19 candidates vying for five Miami-Dade County Commission seats this year, lawyer Danielle Cohen Higgins is the only incumbent on the ballot.

This is the first time Cohen Higgins faces an election in District 8 because she was appointed to fill the seat of her predecessor, Daniella Levine Cava, who was elected Miami-Dade County mayor in late 2020. Levine Cava has endorsed Cohen Higgins in this race.

That means the upcoming Aug. 23 election is the first chance for District 8 voters to show support or disapproval at the ballot box for their current commissioner, who represents residents in Cutler Bay, Palmetto Bay, parts of Homestead and the Kendall and Redland areas.

The District 8 candidates for the Aug. 23 election are:

▪ Alicia Arellano, 52, realtor and swim team coach

▪ Danielle Cohen Higgins, 41, incumbent commissioner, lawyer

▪ Karen Baez-Wallis, 50, former director of Jackson South Medical Center’s trauma center

Baez-Wallis, a self-described “people’s voice” candidate, said she was motivated to run partly because many residents in her district feel ignored by the county commission.

“They say, ‘We don’t have a voice. We feel that we don’t have representation,’ ” Baez-Wallis said. “They feel that things are more at stake now than ever before, because their belts are tightening to the point that they just can’t tighten it any more, and they’re scared.”

Last month, commissioners gave preliminary approval to Levine Cava’s proposed 1% property tax rate cut for all property owners. Cohen Higgins voted for it, and said she supports that number because a more aggressive cut could result in needing to increase taxes down the road.

“It sounds wonderful: Let’s be aggressive in cutting taxes, let’s cut back as much as we can, let’s trim the fat,” Cohen Higgins said during an Aug. 2 candidates forum hosted by the Miami Foundation. “Except what happens next year? What happens the year after that? What I do not want to do is move in haste.”

Baez-Wallis says a 1% cut is not enough, and that she supports a larger reduction for at least the upcoming fiscal year to “let people catch their breath.” She did not name any specific programs that should be put on hold, but said nothing related to public safety or infrastructure should be reduced.

Arellano also supports a bigger reduction. “As much of a tax reduction as we can get would be great, as long as it doesn’t [mean] losing services,” she said, adding that she would support a 2% rate cut.

A final commission vote on the 2023 tax rate and budget will be held in September. The District 8 winner’s term begins in November.

Arellano, who is vice chair of the Hammocks Citizens Advisory Committee, an anti-crime neighborhood group, described the changes she’s seen in her district throughout the last few decades.

“District 8 is growing by leaps and bounds,” Arellano said. “We seem to just say yes to development over and over without addressing the other issues that are with it.

“I’m not saying ‘no development,’ but it should be better planned,” she added.

A key issue for the district is the Urban Development Boundary, which is an approximately 78-mile-long legal divide that separates urban areas from preserved land and marks where developers are allowed to build large residential and commercial projects.

Cohen Higgins and Arellano oppose expanding the boundary. Baez-Wallis said she is opposed to moving the boundary for commercial or industrial purposes, but that she may consider expanding it for residential purposes, if such an expansion has wide support.

“If we have an absolute and urgent need for additional urban sprawl, I believe that working in collaboration with the Hold the Line Coalition, with the Everglades park, we may look for an area that will not have the impact on our environment and will maybe help with the housing situation,” Baez-Wallis said during the Miami Foundation forum.

Cohen Higgins has greatly outraised her competitors. Since 2019, she has received over $477,500 in campaign contributions to her candidate committee, as well as $549,700 in contributions to the political committee Fight for Our Future.

Baez-Wallis has raised over $33,000, with many donations coming from people in the medical field, including nurses, physicians and surgeons. Arellano has raised $2,470.

Over a third of Cohen Higgins’ donations are from real estate developers, contractors, engineers, architects and similar trades, according to campaign finance records. A small portion of those firms have out-of-state addresses, such as Farmingdale, N.J., Chicago and Sugarland, Texas.

Asked why the development and real estate industry comprises so many of her donors, Cohen Higgins’ campaign said the commissioner is “a strong and fierce defender of the environment.”

“Time and time again, she has reaffirmed her commitment to preserving South Dade’s unique agro-tourism industry with the creation of Farm Month, showcasing the agro-tourism businesses in her district and cracking down on unlicensed operations, just to name a few,” Cohen Higgins’ campaign wrote in an email. “She is campaigning hard in the closing two weeks to continue to earn the support, trust and votes of District 8 residents and looks forward to addressing the continued challenges Miami-Dade families and businesses face.”

The campaign did not respond to questions about whether or not the commissioner has preexisting relationships with these real estate and development firms, or if she’s aware of any of her donors developing or having plans to develop land in the district.