Politics
Lucia Báez-Geller, Ashley Litwin Diego vie to challenge embattled GOP incumbent in HD 106
Two Miami-Dade Democrats are competing in House District 106 for the right to face a Republican incumbent a jury just found liable for sexual harassment, battery and defamation.
One has the support of unions, several sitting state lawmakers and a solid public service résumé. The other has the backing of the county’s most prominent local official and Miami Beach’s immediate past Mayor, among others, but no political record at all.
Former Miami-Dade School Board Member Lucia Báez-Geller and trial lawyer Ashley Litwin Diego are facing off in an Aug. 18 Primary for HD 106, one of the most flippable seats in Florida.
The district runs along a coastal strip of Miami-Dade encompassing Aventura, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Fisher Island, Indian Creek, Miami Beach, North Bay Village, North Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach and Surfside.
Donald Trump carried it by 9 points in 2024. Joe Biden won it by 10 four years earlier, according to MCI Maps. And it’s been trending redder. This time last year, a tally by the county Supervisor of Elections Office showed Democrats outnumbering Republicans by just 155 voters, with third- and no-party voters making up the largest share of the district’s electorate.
Voters unaffiliated with either of the two major parties still do, but the major party advantage has since shifted to Republicans, who are now ahead of Democrats in the district by roughly 1,800 voters.
The winner of the HD 106 Democratic Primary will take on Republican state Rep. Fabián Basabe, who took the seat by only 240 votes in 2022 and held it by 4 points in 2024. He’s had a rough few months in court and in the press.
In July, a Leon County jury found Basabe liable for sexually harassing, battering and defaming a former aide and former intern, awarding the two men $450,000. He has requested a new trial, arguing he wasn’t given a fair shake during the trial, when he represented himself and rested without calling a single witness.
Since the verdict, officials have withdrawn endorsements and five of seven Commissioners in Miami Beach, the district’s central municipality, have called for his resignation.
Báez-Geller, 41, brings ample public service and government work experience to the contest. She taught English at Miami Beach Senior High for 15 years before winning a Miami-Dade School Board seat in 2020, where she was widely regarded as the body’s most progressive member.
She left in 2024 to challenge U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar in CD 27, raising more than $650,000, but lost. The daughter of a Cuban father and Colombian mother, she was the first in her family to finish college and is pursuing a doctorate at Florida International University, where she earned a master’s degree in sociology.
She told Florida Politics this month that her priorities are helping residents with the cost of living, property insurance reform, housing, improving public schools and ensuring reproductive freedom. If she wins this year, she said, her first bill would force insurers seeking rate hikes to disclose how premium dollars are spent. She also wants the developer-friendly Live Local Act repealed or substantially rewritten, calling it ill-suited to barrier islands.
Her backers include state Sen. Shevrin Jones, state Rep. Ashley Gantt, School Board Member Joe Geller (no relation), Miami Beach Commissioner Tanya Katzoff Bhatt, former U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala, Equality Florida and SAVE.
Unions backing her include the Florida Education Association, Teamsters Local 769, SEIU Florida and the South Florida AFL-CIO.
She’s raised nearly $79,000 and loaned her campaign $250,000. Of that $329,000 pot, she had about $99,000 remaining at the start of August.
Litwin Diego, 45, is a partner at Seitles & Litwin. She is a breast cancer survivor making her first run at elected office.
A University of Chicago Law graduate, she has spent nearly two decades in criminal defense and constitutional work, earning a National Trial Lawyers “Top 40 Under 40” recognition. She chairs the Board of Transition Inc., a nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated people find work, and represented divers Trump pardoned last year after they freed sharks from a fishing line.
She qualified by petition.
Her platform centers on property insurance, condominium assessments — Litwin Diego would push state-backed low-interest loans for retirees facing them — resiliency against sea-level rise, gun safety and healthcare access.
She also wants Live Local significantly reformed or scrapped.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, North Miami Vice Mayor Kassandra Timothe, former Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, former U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia and former North Bay Village Mayor Brent Latham back her.
Litwin Diego has raised roughly $293,000, including $55,000 in self-loans and had about $29,000 left by July 31.
Both candidates outraised Basabe by wide margins. Since winning re-election in November, he’s collected about $134,000 in outside donations, though he’s also received nearly $140,000 in in-kind aid, much of it from the House Republican Campaign Committee.
Polling for the contest is incongruous. An MDW Communications survey conducted for Litwin Diego last month found the two tied at 39.4% among informed voters, with 21% undecided. MDW didn’t disclose what information respondents received.
Báez-Geller’s campaign has cited a Beacon Insights poll giving her a 15-point lead.
Early voting is underway.
The post Lucia Báez-Geller, Ashley Litwin Diego vie to challenge embattled GOP incumbent in HD 106 appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..