Politics
2 challengers aim to oust Danielle Cohen Higgins in Miami-Dade Commission District 8
Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins is seeking a final four-year term Aug. 18 against two challengers who say that under her watch, the county’s budget has ballooned while services haven’t kept pace.
Higgins, a Democrat, faces former Palmetto Bay Vice Mayor John DuBois and nonprofit CEO Martha “Vega” Hero, both Republicans.
DuBois is a longtime member of the GOP, according to state records, which show Hero switched from Democrat to independent in 2020 before reregistering as a Republican after the 2024 election.
Because County Commission races are technically nonpartisan, all three appear on the same ballot. A candidate needs more than 50% to win outright; otherwise, the top two vote-getters will advance to a Nov. 3 runoff.
District 8 spans much of southern Miami-Dade, including Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, parts of Homestead and unincorporated Kendall, Leisure City, Naranja and the Redland. Split by U.S. 1, it is one of the county’s fastest-growing and diverse areas, where suburbs give way to farmland that developers covet.
Cohen Higgins, who turned 45 this month, is a trial lawyer who joined the Commission by appointment in December 2020, succeeding Daniella Levine Cava after she won the mayoralty.
She won a full term in 2022 with 57% of the vote. Term limits force her out in 2030.
The daughter of Jamaican immigrants, Cohen Higgins has organized her 2026 platform around affordability, transportation relief, environmental protection and public safety, according to her campaign website.
On the 13-member dais, she’s developed a reputation as a fiscal watchdog with sensible environmental leanings, frequently pressuring her peers on the panel and Levine Cava’s administration on whether the county is overpaying for property and contracts while pushing back against development that could harm vulnerable habitats.
In 2022, she was one of four “no” votes against shrinking the county’s Urban Development Boundary (UDB) for a Homestead-area industrial complex. She was also a major proponent of a bridge connecting Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay on Southwest 87th Avenue that Levine Cava opposed — it opened last month — and supports the replacement of Miami-Dade’s waste-to-energy incinerator, telling a Miami Foundation forum it’s a necessary facility despite its unpopularity, according to the Miami Herald.
She carries endorsements from a slew of unions and advocacy organizations, and the Herald’s editorial board, which highlighted her experience in making tough decisions.
Cohen Higgins is among the Commission’s top fundraisers, with close to $243,000 raised this cycle through her campaign account and more than $1.34 million stacked between two political committees. Much of the funds came from real estate and development interests.
By Aug. 1, she had more than $1.48 million left to spend.
DuBois, 64, has lived in Miami-Dade more than 25 years and spent some 40 years as an information technology entrepreneur, building low-cost broadband service before competitors entered the market, according to his campaign website.
He served two four-year terms as Palmetto Bay Vice Mayor through 2020. In 2019, he launched a short-lived campaign for the County Commission’s District 8 seat after Levine Cava vacated it.
DuBois is running on a promise to bring more fiscal responsibility to County Hall while supporting well-planned development, improving public safety and addressing traffic congestion, telling Community News in July that commuting from his home to downtown Miami, which once took about 25 minutes, now takes as long as 90 minutes.
He has criticized the county for failing to deliver on promised transit expansion, despite more than $3 billion collected through a local half-penny sales tax voters approved in 2003. Similarly, he’s hammered the county for its $4 billion budget rise since 2022 that coincided with minimal improvements to infrastructure and resident services — an issue CFO Blaise Ingoglia similarly raised in June.
He told the Herald he generally opposes moving the UDB.
Since entering the District 8 race in June, DuBois — who reported a $25 million net worth — has added nearly $146,000 to his campaign account, almost all of it self-given, and spent about $94,000.
Hero, 61, is a first-time candidate and President and CEO of National Community Services Inc., which runs adult education, English-as-a-second-language courses, citizenship preparation, workforce development and financial literacy programs alongside after-school care, Summer camps and food distribution.
Her campaign website cites more than 20 years serving South Dade and lists public safety, traffic and infrastructure, affordability, and support for job growth and small businesses as her priorities.
She wants infrastructure dollars spent transparently and for their intended purpose, and to see permitting streamlined so entrepreneurs aren’t waiting years to open for business.
Hero previously provided Hispanic outreach services for U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar and worked on the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, all Republicans, according to Political Cortadito.
She told the Herald editorial board that she wants to provide more help to seniors living on Social Security who can’t cover monthly rent and would like to see property taxes eliminated for homeowners 65 and older. And she told the Herald she would defend the UDB and back agriculture and agritourism.
Hero raised about $46,000 through the end of July, including $4,000 in self-loans, and spent $24,000.
None of her deep-pocketed former congressional employers donated to her campaign.
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