Hialeah voters pick Bryan Calvo as first new elected Mayor in 5 years

A little over six months after Jackie Garcia-Roves made history as Hialeah’s first woman Mayor, voters in the city put a man back in the job.

With 41 of 45 precincts reporting, former City Council member Bryan Calvo had 53% of the vote to supplant Garcia-Roves while also outpacing three others — Council member Jesús Tundidor, Bernardo “Benny” Rodriguez and Marc Anthony Salvat — vying for the post.

Tundidor, who received 21% of the vote, placed second in the contest, followed by Garcia-Roves, who had 19%.

Hialeah’s election this year came amid rising concerns over the cost of living, maintenance of public infrastructure and the city’s bookkeeping.

Accordingly, the priorities of nearly every candidate on the ballot overlapped.

At a televised debate last month, the candidates clashed over promises of tax cuts and rebates as the city faces a fiscal crisis, as finance officials called it.

Garcia-Roves and Tundidor defended a recently approved $200 homeowner rebate that drained $6.4 million from city coffers and delayed 18 public projects. Both pledged continued relief “as long as the city can afford it.”

Calvo blasted the rebates and tax-cut talk, warning Hialeah “doesn’t print money” and that city taxpayers inevitably pay.

Salvat and Rodriguez, meanwhile, echoed calls for affordability but offered few details on how to fund their alternative proposals.

Calvo, 27, made history in 2021 as the youngest person ever elected to the City Council. He previously worked as a legislative aide to Hialeah Gardens Sen. Bryan Ávila.

As a Council member, Calvo frequently butted heads with Bovo, whom he sued in 2023, alleging that Bovo was hampering his ability to investigate problems with the city’s emergency call center.

A Miami-Dade court subsequently tossed the complaint, and the Council voted 6-1 for a resolution condemning Calvo’s suit.

Calvo, who resigned from office last year after an unsuccessful run for Miami-Dade Tax Collector, told the Miami Herald he was running to “bring real change” to City Hall by cutting government waste, reducing water bills, lowering taxes and fighting corruption.

Garcia-Roves, 43, became Mayor in April, when her peers chose her to serve in the role for a short time after former Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo’s resigned to take a federal lobbying job.

She was first elected to the Council in 2019 as part of then-Mayor Carlos Hernandez’s slate. Four years later, she won re-election unopposed.

This cycle, Garcia-Roves ran on a promise to stop tax increases, expand senior services, improve city parks, help small businesses grow, strengthen public safety, secure state and federal infrastructure funding, lower utility costs and build more affordable housing.

Tundidor, 35, was also elected in 2019 despite not being on the ex-Mayor’s list of preferred candidates. And he, too, was elected without opposition four years later.

Before winning a local office, he worked as an aide to former state Senator and current Miami-Dade Commissioner René García, who briefly flirted with a run for Hialeah Mayor early this year.

During his time on the dais, Tundidor distinguished himself as a levelheaded, policy-focused official. He ran this year on a platform that prioritized reducing government waste, lowering property taxes, repealing “burdensome” regulations, supporting small businesses and increasing police presence.

He also promised to block overdevelopment, expand senior services and prevent the illegal housing of recreational vehicles in residential communities.

Rodriguez, 79, said he wants to attract more business to the city, create educational opportunities for residents, crack down on crime and improve government transparency.

Salvat, a 32-year-old real estate entrepreneur, told the Herald that because he’s not a politician, he owes no “political favors” and is beholden only to the people.

If elected, he said, he’d fight to lower taxes and water bills, improve safety and end the city’s “mismanagement of funds.”

Salvat is the race’s lone candidate without party affiliation. The rest are Republicans.

Hialeah’s elections are technically nonpartisan, though party politics can influence races. Unless otherwise noted, every candidate running is a Republican.