Add Miami-Dade’s top county official and Miami Beach’s immediate past Mayor to the list of current and former political leaders backing Monica Matteo-Salinas’ bid for the Miami Beach Commission.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and ex-Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, a former state lawmaker, are endorsing Matteo-Salinas in the Dec. 9 runoff for the City Commission’s District 1 seat.
Levine Cava, a former nonprofit executive who made history in 2020 as Miami-Dade’s first-ever woman Mayor, cited Matteo-Salinas’ work under two Miami Beach Commissioners and at Catalyst Miami, which Levine Cava founded, in explaining her support.
“Monica knows how the city works and, just as importantly, how it can work better for the people who call Miami Beach home,” she said in a statement.
“She has proven herself as a dedicated public servant who leads with diligence and integrity, always putting residents first. I’m proud to endorse her for Miami Beach City Commission.”
Gelber said Matteo-Salinas “performed exceedingly well” at City Hall specializing in constituent services, resident outreach and legislation drafting. He expects she’ll hit the ground running with a win next month.
“Monica will also have no learning curve upon election. She will immediately understand our sustainability and public safety challenges because she has already worked on them. I know she appreciates our art and culture profile because she helped foster it. Local government can sometimes be so slow in first learning and then addressing these challenges. It will be wonderful to have someone who can contribute on her first day on the job,” he said.
“Finally, and, most importantly, Monica Matteo-Salinas walks into the job with a singular perspective. Yours. She spent years listening to you. Trying to answer your questions and solve your problems. Monica had a reputation for responding immediately and thoroughly. And, by the way, she always did her job with a smile and a can-do attitude.”
The new endorsements join others from Miami Beach Commissioners Tanya Bhatt, Laura Dominguez and Alex Fernandez, and LGBTQ groups SAVE Action PAC and Equality Florida Action PAC.
Matteo-Salinas, who worked under Fernandez and former Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, is competing against lawyer Monique Pardo Pope for the Group 1 seat after neither secured a large enough share of the vote in the Nov. 4 General Election to win outright.
Matteo-Salinas is a Democrat, while Pardo Pope is a Republican. Miami Beach elections are nonpartisan, though party politics frequently play into races.
Commission members are elected at-large, meaning Group 1 does not represent a specific geographical district and all Miami Beach voters have a say in all races on the ballot.
