The race for Miami-Dade’s 7th District is heating up ahead of Election Day

In 2020, former Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner lost by 1,301 votes to school board member and attorney Raquel Regalado for a then-open District 7 seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission.

Four years later, in the August 20 primary, Lerner and Regalado became the first two candidates from a field of three to enter a November 5 election ballot.

As Election Day nears, both Lerner and Regalado have used the incumbent’s record to persuade voters to reject the other candidate, a tactic fueled by innuendo and personal attacks.

“The first thing to do is build relationships throughout the district,” Lerner said in an interview with Caplin News. “The current commissioner has ignored much of the district, especially unincorporated Miami Dade. I don’t even know where it is.”

Lerner, 72, is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives whose platform is based on climate change reform, reducing public corruption and overdevelopment and expanding transit options.

As mayor of Pinecrest, she created a climate change action plan to reduce carbon emissions and introduced free local transit service. She also chaired the National League of Cities’ Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee during the term.

Regalado, 50, is currently county commissioner District 7. She won 49 percent of the vote in the primary. Caplin News reached out to her for an interview but did not hear back.

The daughter of former Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, Raquel Regalado’s campaign touts her accomplishments in office, which include advocating for children and adults with disabilities, improving water quality in Biscayne Bay, creating affordable housing options in unincorporated Miami-Dade and more.

“We’ve done so much and we have so much more to do,” Regalado said in a podcast episode with Key Biscayne Independent. “There is no (municipality) that doesn’t support me in this re-election, and it’s an amazing testament, especially in Key Biscayne.”

However, Lerner’s campaign tried to frame Regalado as pro-development, anti-environment and for special interest donors who boosted his fundraising efforts to more than $2 million. right Miami HeraldRegalado’s cash advantage was fueled in part by donations from developers who wanted favorable votes from the commission.

“It’s really obscene. I don’t know what else to call them, but an obscene amount of donations,” commented Lerner. “70% comes from developers, lobbyists, land lawyers and real estate concerns. The influence they had on her and her votes is very evident.”

Regalado continues to reject these claims, dismissing Lerner as a politician with a history of being rude to voters. He also called Lerner “corrupt,” claiming he allowed his first cousin to use Pinecrest’s facilities for a rent-free event while keeping a portion of the proceeds.

But a turning point came when an attack ad against Regalado sparked some controversy when it linked the incumbent to a series of corruption allegations involving officials, including Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and suspended Alex Díaz from Portilla. Regalado dismissed the allegations and called Lerner’s ad anti-Hispanic by grouping politicians of the same ethnicity.

“The message is: Cuban-Americans are corrupt,” she said in an interview with the Miami Herald. “Therefore, Raquel Regalado is corrupt.”

Lerner denied those claims, saying critics are playing an ethnicity card that doesn’t exist.

“These are baseless claims. Those are false claims,” Lerner said. “The reason these elected officials were mentioned is because each of them made the front pages of the Miami Herald and made decisions that significantly impact much of District 7.”

“They’re associating with people who are under investigation,” she continued. “It’s worrying.”

There was no public poll on the District 7 county commissioner race.

Miami Herald Editorial Board Regalado approved over Lerner, writing that Regalado has “an extensive list of accomplishments during her first term.”

District 7 covers South Miami, parts of Coral Gables and Kendall and Key Biscayne, Pinecrest and South Miami. According to one district demographic analysis of Miami-Dade County, the 7th District has more than 77,000 Hispanic voters, with more than 31,000 registered as Republicans.

Adriana Garcia, 43, is a Republican and teacher who voted early for Regalado at the Coral Gables Library.

“I voted for her in 2020 and this election because she aligns more with my political views,” Garcia said.

Jorge Casas, a 44-year-old Democrat, is a construction project manager and has voted early for Lerner both in this election and in 2020.

“Raquel Regalado is a grandchild. I don’t agree with her policies,” Casas said. “I think she’s trying to defend herself all the time. A good candidate doesn’t have to sit there and defend himself. Their actions will tell their people what they do and don’t do.”

Alain Diaz Herrera, 36, is a campaigner for Latin Americans for Trump at the Coral Gables Library. A Republican voter and independent professional, he also voted for Regalado because of the effectiveness of his policies.

“One of the things I like about her is that (she) knows what works and (her) mindset is not to change what’s already working. I like this. I like that he respects the fact that things are going well and has no intention of having a dramatic change.”

The story was originally published by Caplin News, a publication of FIU’s Lee Caplin School of Journalism and Media, as part of an editorial content partnership with the WLRN newsroom.