Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins — one of the county’s most polished, disciplined and politically savvy Democrats — may finally have something she hasn’t faced in a while: A real race.
Enter Martha Hero. Yes, Ladra hears you asking already: Who?
Hero filed Monday to challenge Cohen Higgins in District 8, and while she’s not exactly a household name, her résumé gives us a pretty good clue about what kind of campaign this could become. Which is super partisan. Yet again.
Records show Hero previously worked as a on the campaign for Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, handling Hispanic outreach. She told Political Cortadito Tuesday that she also worked on the campaigns for Sen. Rick Scott, Congressman Carlos Gimenez and the mayor of Homestead, where she has lived for 11 years.
She is also involved in the Florida Republicans Coalition Corp. and as president of National Community Services, a non profit on Flagler Street that says it helps people fill out immigration documents and find fulfilling arts and sports programs. As founder 
and president of the organization, she has supported Salazar’s ironically named Dignity Act, because it offers no dignity. That plants Hero firmly in South Florida’s Republican political ecosystem.
Meanwhile, back in District 8 — which covers a lot of unincorporated Kendall, Homestead, Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay, where the commissioner has warred with the mayor — Cohen Higgins is no political lightweight. An attorney with a background in complex commercial civil litigation, she was appointed to the commission in 2020 after Daniella Levine Cava became mayor. She beat two opponents in 2022 with 57% of the vote. Many say she wants to follow Levine Cava’s shoes again and run for mayor.
Read related: Miami-Dade’s Danielle Cohen Higgins rakes in PAC funds on non election year
To that end, Cohen Higgins has built exactly the kind of profile incumbents dream about. Serious. Policy-driven. Well-funded. She is rarely caught in drama and is deeply connected in Democratic circles.
In other words — hard to beat. Which raises the obvious question: Why run now?
Let’s read the political tea leaves: District 8 is not ruby red, but Miami-Dade has been trending less reliably blue in recent cycles. Republicans smell opportunity almost everywhere these days — especially in local races where turnout is low and messaging can be hyper-targeted. Ladra would bet a cafecito that party players are at least watching this race, even if they’re not driving the bus.
In fact, las malas lenguas say Hero was recruited by, get this, the other Democrats on the dais, particularly Commissioner Kionne McGhee, who doesn’t like how Cohen Higgins has been voting against his non-profit trust fund and other giveaways. In 
a 2022 social media post by Martha Vega, aka Martha Vega Hero, she thanks McGhee for proclaiming it Ecuadorian Day in Miami-Dade.
Read related: Miami-Dade committee punts hard on Kionee McGhee’s non-profit slush fund
Vega Hero told Ladra Tuesday that she had not talked to McGhee about this but that she did have the support of her party colleagues. “All of them,” she said in a telephone interview that she cut short because she was working.
But here’s a reality check: Unseating an incumbent commissioner is notoriously difficult. Cohen Higgins has name recognition, institutional relationships, fundraising ability and the power of the office.
That’s the political equivalent of showing up to a knife fight with a tank.
Still — challengers matter. They force incumbents to campaign, defend records and reconnect with voters instead of sleepwalking to reelection. And Ladra loves competition almost as much as she loves a good public records request.
So, is this a real race? Too early to tell.
Hero will need money. She’ll need a message. And she’ll need a reason why voters should fire a commissioner who, by most insider accounts, has avoided major scandal and governs from the pragmatic center.
But the filing alone is a reminder that no seat is permanently safe in Miami-Dade.
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Danielle Cohen Higgins gets a challenger — one with Republican ties added by Ladra on
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