Oliver Gilbert making it official today in CD 24, setting a Miami Gardens collision course with Shevrin Jones

Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert III will formally launch his campaign for Florida’s 24th Congressional District on Sunday, capping a week in which he resigned his county seat, filed his Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, and launched a campaign site.

He’ll make it official at 10 a.m. at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miami Gardens — the city where he was born, raised, and twice elected Mayor.

“I grew up here. I went to school here. I served here. And every step of that journey is the reason I’m running,” Gilbert said.

The seat opened when U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, 83, announced she would not seek a ninth term after eight terms in Congress. Wilson told the Miami Herald she deliberately held the news until Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the new congressional map, fearing an earlier exit would turn the district into a redistricting target. The redraw kept CD 24 deeply blue — one of just four Democratic-leaning seats left in the state — which means the Aug. 18 Democratic Primary will effectively decide Wilson’s successor

Gilbert, 53, led Miami Gardens as Mayor from 2012 to 2020 before winning a Miami-Dade Commission seat in District 1, where he served as Commission Chair from 2022 to 2024. A Florida A&M University graduate with a law degree from the University of Miami, he resigned from the Commission effective Jan. 3 — the day a new member of Congress would be sworn in — clearing the way for the run..

Gilbert enters a fast-forming field. Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime, physician and repeat congressional candidate Rudy Moise, and business owner Christine Sanon-Jules have all filed, along with Republican Patricia Gonzalez and independent Andy Daro.

The marquee matchup, though, is shaping up against state Sen. Shevrin Jones, a fellow Miami Gardens Democrat preliminarily viewed as the early front-runner. Jones turned in his own paperwork Thursday — “It’s filed and live,” he said — and has spent two weeks broadcasting his intentions without quite saying the words. He suspended his Senate re-election bid with a video teasing that “another chapter may just be beginning,” then used his Senate farewell to tell colleagues he hoped they’d visit him “somewhere else — maybe in Washington, D.C.” after Aug. 18.

He has teased a formal kickoff of his own at Koinonia Worship Center, his family’s church, this week.

Jones, 42, is a Miami Gardens native, former chair of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party, and a 14-year legislative veteran who was in line to lead Senate Democrats in 2028 before stepping aside for the congressional run.

The qualifying deadline is June 12. The Primary is Aug. 18, followed by the General Election on Nov. 3.

— Ed. note: This story was drafted with assistance from AI. Editorial judgment, sourcing, and final review were performed by Peter Schorsch and the Florida Politics editorial team.