1996 Miami mayoral special election

Last updated
1996 Miami mayoral special election
Flag of Miami, Florida.svg
← 1993July 23, 1996 1997  →
  Joe Carollo official portrait photograph (City of Miami), orange background (3x4).jpg 3x4.svg 3x4.svg
Candidate Joe Carollo Eladio ArmestoC.C. Reed
Popular vote16,5562,2971,202
Percentage75.76%10.51%5.50%
Mayor before election

Willy Gort (acting)

Elected mayor

Joe Carollo

The 1996 Miami mayoral special election was a special election held on July, 23, 1996, following the death of Mayor Stephen P. Clark that June. City Commissioner (city councilor) Joe Carollo was elected to fill the remainder of Clark's unexpired term as mayor, facing no significant opponents.

Contents

Background

The special election took place due to the death in office of Mayor Stephen P. Clark, who died of cancer on June 4, 1996. [1]

With Miami having a council-manager form of government, the mayoralty was largely seen as a primarily ceremonial office. Most executive power in the city and its metro area was instead held by the city manager of Miami and the mayor of Dade County (county executive). [2]

Candidates

Ran

Withdrew

Campaigning

By early 1996, it had been widely known that Mayor Clark was dying of cancer. Rumors emerged that City Commissioner Joe Carollo, who was undertaking many public appearances across the city resembling those of a candidate for mayor, was already gearing up to run in the instance of a special election to fill his seat. Carollo, however, refused to validate these rumors, and argued that these public appearances were "just grass-roots work that any good official should do. Carollo announced his candidacy for mayor several days after Clark's funeral. [4]

Carollo had a history of fielding ugly attacks against opponents for office, which may have dissuaded other city politicians from entering the race against him. Ultimately, he faced no serious challenger. None of his opponents had ever held elected office, and more than one was currently unemployed. His most significant opponent was Eladio Jose Amresto, a publisher of weekly newspapers. However, Armesto's political baggage included previously having faced charges of domestic abuse for beating his wife with a wooden coathanger (charges which were dropped after he agreed to 200 hours of community service), and he was not considered to have an actual prospect of winning the election. [4]

Results

The election saw turnout of only 19% of the more than 110,000 registered voters that were eligible to participate. [1] [2]

Carollo was easily elected, [2] leading in every electoral precinct. [4] He became the city's second mayor of Cuban descent (the first having been Xavier Suarez). [2]

Results [3]
CandidateVotes%
Joe Carollo 16,55675.75
Eladio Jose Armesto2,29710.51
C.C. Reed1,2025.50
Roger Snell withdrew5882.69
Rolando Barreiro Jr.4602.10
Jacqueline Maria Chediak4091.87
Olga Andreu-Moriera3441.57
Total votes21,856 100

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Carollo Is Miami Mayor By Big Margin". Orlando Sentinel. July 24, 1996. Retrieved October 22, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Cuban-Born Commissioner Is Elected Mayor of Miami". The New York Times. July 25, 1996. Retrieved October 22, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Election Results" . The Miami Herald (final edition, late sports). July 24, 1996. p. 1. Retrieved 29 October 2025– via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 3 Dorschner, John (September 8, 1996). "The Explosive Mayor of Miami". The Miami Herald. pp. 9A –11A.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.