For the second time this year, Ed Silva has been rejected in Palmetto Bay.
The former city manager, forced to resign earlier this year, lost the election for vice mayor to Leanne Tellam, attorney and PTA mom extraordinaire, two to one. She got two for every one of his. Final score, according to Miami-Dade Elections results, was 66% to 34%, which is less than the 38% Silva got in the first round.
Did some people change their mind? Well, yes. But about voting.
Far fewer voters turned out for the runoff than in the first round. Fewer than half. Far fewer than half. More than 13,300 Village voters cast ballots for the Nov. 3 elections. And only 5,084 cast ballots for Tuesday’s race.
Read related: In Palmetto Bay, Ed Silva won’t go away; in runoff Tuesday vs Leanne Tellam
The difference is that while Tellam was able to keep more than half of her original turnout engaged (3,361 of the 6,662) Silva was only able to get one of every three voters (1,723 of there 5,179) to come back and vote for him a second time.
When asked what she thought worked best to give her such a resounding victory, Tellam looked around her home at the remnants of a very grassroots campaign and said she felt lucky to have made so many friends over the years.
“It is the fact that my community came and lifted me up that took me over the finish line,” Tellam told Ladra Tuesday night. Her community? The PTA people, the Junior League, Mangowood, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts. They helped form an army for Tellam at the nine precincts in the Village.
When you are involved in so much of a community for so long, it’s not hard to get elected in a runoff or special election. If you have already been there for them, your base will be there for you.
Silva, an architect who was the developers’ candidate, did not return a text Tuesday night.
Just over 17% of the registered voters in both Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay tuned out Tuesday. In Cutler Bay Council residential area 2, Suzy Lord beat Jose Rodriguez, 60% to 40%.
Tellam will be sworn in at 5:30 p.m. on Monday with newly-elected Palmetto Bay Councilman Steve Cody, an attorney and children’s books author who beat David Singer 52-48% on Nov. 3.
Leanne Tellam beats Ed Silva 2 to 1 for Vice Mayor in Palmetto Bay runoff added by Ladra on
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