Politics
Marleine Bastien looks to defend Miami-Dade Commission seat against 2 challengers
Miami-Dade Commissioner Marleine Bastien is seeking a second and final term representing District 2 at County Hall.
Two long-shot challengers — Miguel “Skip” Quintero and Ernst Jean Louis — hope to deny her.
Bastien, a 67-year-old Democrat, won the seat in 2022 with 59% of the vote in a runoff against then-North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime, becoming the first Haitian-American woman elected to the 13-member Board.
She chairs the Commission’s Housing Committee and is running on her record over the past four years, which includes advancing more than 1,200 affordable housing units in her district, placing more than 30 county-owned parcels into the Infill Housing Program and helping secure $3 million for child-care scholarships.
She told WLRN in January that her “work is not finished and the progress we’ve made deserves to be built upon.”
She is a licensed clinical social worker and founded the nonprofit Family Action Network Movement, which serves thousands of Florida residents each year.
Bastien has also been the Board’s sharpest voice against President Donald Trump’s revocation of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, and she cast the lone dissenting vote in December 2024 against Hialeah’s request to add Trump’s name to Palm Avenue.
In terms of endorsements and money, she’s a titan in the race. She carries support from major labor groups like AFSCME Florida and abortion rights nonprofit Ruth’s List Florida.
The Miami Herald editorial board recommended her to voters, citing her grassroots background as the perspective the Commission needs amid budget shortfalls and a housing crunch.
By the end of July, Bastien had raised more than $119,000 through her campaign account, with contributions from real estate firms, consulting companies and political committees, including one tied to Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
She stacked another $1.09 million through her state-level political committee, Moving Forward Together, and had more than $674,000 remaining between the two pots of cash heading into August.
Quintero, 47, is a trapeze school owner, former used car salesman and self-described First Amendment auditor who ran for Miami-Dade Mayor in 2024. A registered Democrat until roughly 2024, he is now a Libertarian.
He is campaigning on promises to improve county code compliance, increase government transparency, lower rent by boosting housing supply, and create jobs through arts, trades and entrepreneurship. His run for office began after a years-long dispute with county code enforcement over the trapeze operation he opened in his Pinewood backyard in 2021.
Quintero has raised more than $13,000 through his campaign account. A separate political committee, run by his campaign manager and not overseen by Quintero, has raised another $10,000.
Together, the two accounts had about $5,500 left as of July 31.
Jean Louis, 66, works as a security guard and founded a Creole-language newspaper, according to Axios Miami. He is a first-time candidate who switched from independent to Republican.
He told the Herald that, if he wins office, he will focus on residents often overlooked in county decisions, including people with disabilities, seniors and veterans.
County records show Jean Louis raised $1,300 and spent all but $270 of it.
Jean Louis appears to have no campaign website. Click here to view a photo the Miami Herald’s Douglas Hanks took of him.
District 2 includes large parts of North Miami and Opa-locka, as well as smaller sections of Hialeah, Miami, and North Miami Beach. It also covers the unincorporated neighborhoods of Biscayne Gardens, Liberty City and North Central Dade.
The district leans strongly Democratic and is home to the largest Haitian population in the county.
The Miami-Dade Commission is officially nonpartisan, so all three candidates will appear on the Aug. 18 Primary ballot without party labels.
To win outright, a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote. If no one reaches that threshold, the top two finishers will move on to a Nov. 3 runoff.
Early voting is underway.
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