Democrat Mike Davey aims to try again for congressional seat in District 27

Former Key Biscayne Mayor Mike Davey, who lost the Democratic primary last year for a chance to challenge Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, wants to give it another go. He announced Tuesday that he would run again in 2026.

“I’ve spent over 12 years as a public servant and mayor working to improve the quality of life for the people I was elected to serve — putting politics aside, focusing on solutions, and delivering results,” Davey, 58, said in a statement. “That kind of approach is sorely needed in Washington these days.

“I’m running for Congress because we deserve a representative who will fight for us, listen to us, and always put people first.”

And likely because there’s momentum. Salazar is ripe for the taking. She has come under fire for her hypocritical statements and lack of integrity and action on the mass detentions and deportations that are scarring our community and have led to at least three deaths in immigration custody (more on that later). Her face graces billboards and digital ads calling her una lambona and a traitor to our community. She wrongfully took credit last month for the extension of temporary protective status for 350,000 Venezuelans in the U.S. whose TPS had been rescinded by President Trump. She didn’t do anything. It was a federal judge in San Francisco who reversed the Trump administration’s deportation orders for the TPS holders.

Plus, she won on a Trump pendulum sweep that won’t exist in 2026 and is already swinging the other way, as shown with special elections in the 1st and 6th Congressional Districts, which were both lost to Republicans but marked significant gains in GOP strongholds, according to Democrat operatives who hope these results show that they can flip the House in 2026.

It’s enough to make any would-be hopeful itch. Ladra is surprised that Lucia Baez-Geller, the former Miami-Dade School Board member who beat Davey in the primary last August (with 54% of the vote) but lost to Salazar in November (with less than 40% of the vote), hasn’t scratched yet.

But there is already another Democrat candidate. Richard Lamondin, 37, a Miami-native and environmental entrepreneur, who announced more than a month ago and filed paperwork last week. He is co-founder and CEO of ecofi, environmental services company dedicated to demonstrating that sustainability is beneficial for business, which he and his brother built from the ground up. The company boasts saving over 10 billion gallons of freshwater and preventing more than 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions while saving property owners $100 million in utility costs.

“Today, we have grown to be much more than just an energy and water conservation company. We are now the sustainability team for the real estate industry, supporting them in whatever they need on their journey,” Lamondin said in a Medium interview published last summer.

But his degree from the University of California is in International relations.

Lamondin has been recognized as Endeavor Miami’s Entrepreneur of the Year and named one of South Florida Business Journal’s 40 Under 40. He serves on multiple nonprofit boards focused on community development and youth empowerment, including Project Transforming Hope, Engage Miami, and the ADAPT Foundation. His wife, Martina Spolini, is executive director of Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade, a non-profit that helps low-income, vulnerable homeowners, small business owners, and community organizations by providing critical home repair and accessibility modifications at no cost to preserve current affordable housing.

Davey was a Republican who ran for the Florida House as a GOP candidate in 2016 before switching parties in 2019, due to The Donald Effect. According to his website, his priorities many of the same issues he embraced last year — defending women’s reproductive rights, voters’ rights, working families, unions, equality, social security and Medicare and the environment while advocating for increased teacher pay, reduced lobbyist influence and fix the broken immigration system.

In his statement, he indicated that the recent extremism is also going to play a role in his campaign.

“Like many of you, I have watched as Washington has become increasingly paralyzed by a broken political system. A system where too many politicians, like my opponent, Maria Elvira Salazar, are more concerned with scoring cheap political points or serving special interests than delivering for the people they represent,” Davey said.

“Washington isn’t working for the American people because too many politicians are putting their extreme partisanship and big corporate donors ahead of the people they’re supposed to represent. Maria Elvira Salazar is part of the problem,” he said. “She puts her extreme partisanship and her desire to serve Donald Trump ahead of the best interests of this district. Salazar is so controlled that she claims credit for funding she voted against and cannot even remember what she voted for or against.”

Ouch. That refers to an interview by Jim DeFede of CBS4 News where Salazar, now 63, was confronted about taking credit for millions in funding when she actually voted against two federal bills during the Joe Biden administration, including the bipartisan critical infrastructure bill that funded $2.5 million to expand healthcare for seniors and families, $8 million for flooding mitigation along the Miami River and in Little Havana and $3.75 million for police initiatives, among other projects.

Davey is also going to hit on the “reckless tariffs” and disastrous immigration sweeps that have resulted in the deportation of legal U.S. residents and at least seven detainee deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. He says it is personal for him, because his has-Peruvian daughter — his wife fled the country’s violent Shining Path terrorist attacks — asked why the president thought less of her.

“I am running for her, and for your children, so that they no longer have to fear their president,” Davey says.

“Under the Trump Administration and with Congresswoman Salazar’s help, we are witnessing a full-blown assault on the very values that define us as a nation. Families are torn apart by heartless deportations and law-abiding residents are swept up in a brutal and unjust system. These aren’t mere statistics; these are our neighbors and our friends,” Davey’s statement reads. “The Trump Administration is dangerously out of control and blatantly attempting to whitewash America. Skin color is not a reason to deport people. Every person in this country is entitled to due process. Simply put, we are watching history repeat itself.

“And who can forget the devastating impact of those utterly reckless tariffs? Tariffs that don’t punish foreign countries but instead punish American workers, farmers, and small businesses. Tariffs that choke the life out of our economy, cost us countless jobs, and make it even harder for working-class families to put food on the table. It’s economic sabotage, plain and simple.

“My opponent, Maria Elvira Salazar, has stood by and enabled this destructive agenda. She is nothing less than Donald Trump’s partner in this historic destruction of our nation,” Davey says. “She’s part of a Washington that’s out of touch, a Washington that puts partisanship over people, a Washington that has failed the very people it’s supposed to serve.

“I’m running for Congress because I believe we can do better. I believe that we deserve a representative who will fight for us, who will listen to us, and who will put our interests first. I will work hard for the people of this district.

“I believe in an America where everyone has access to quality, affordable healthcare. I believe in an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few. I believe in a nation that welcomes immigrants, that treats everyone with dignity and respect, and that lives up to its promise as a beacon of hope and opportunity.”

Congressional District 27, Maria Elvira Salazar, Mike Davey

Democrat Mike Davey aims to try again for congressional seat in District 27 added by Ladra on May 13, 2025
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