Rosado, Regalado Face Off in District 4 Special Election

There has been no shortage of mudslinging and drama in a district race that is certain to reset the balance of power on the Miami City Commission.

Voters will soon head to the polls to decide who should join an often-fractured Miami City Commission by filling the vacant District 4 seat. 

Jose Regalado and Ralph Rosado face off in a June 3 special election to replace longtime commissioner Manolo Reyes who died in April following a battle with leukemia. The winner will serve out the remainder of Reyes’ term ending in November 2027.

District 4 encompasses communities from Coral Gate to Shenandoah to Flagami – and the seat could represent a critical swing vote on issues of interest to nearby Coconut Grove.

The winning candidate will be poised to take the reins as one of most powerful municipal politicians in Florida, joining a five-member commission that holds sway over a more-than $1.7 billion annual operating budget and the future of development in Miami. 

A major shift in voting dynamics on the commission remains the backdrop. In 2023, Miami residents opted for a commission overhaul when they elected reform-minded District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo and chose Miguel Gabela for the District 1 seat over longtime Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla, who was embroiled in a now-dismissed corruption case. 

Rosado and Regalado have been playing the non-partisan District 4 race relatively close to the vest, leaving it unclear at times how they’ll align themselves politically if elected. 

Rosado – an urban planning consultant – told the Spotlight that one of his priorities would be scrutinizing heavy development in residential communities. He pointed to his vocal opposition to a developer’s use of the Live Local Act to maximize the density of a planned redevelopment at the old Sears site in Coral Gate, where he lives.

“I was staunch in my opposition to the proposed Sears megaproject that would be out of scale with the adjacent neighborhoods and area. I support growth only if it is neighborhood-compatible,” Rosado says.

As for proposals to reform Miami’s tree-removal regulations – which have sparked controversy in the Grove and throughout the city in recent months – Rosado claims he’s committed to protecting the canopy but sees room for reform of the tree-removal permitting process.

In April, Gabela withdrew his own tree-removal proposal from the commission. 

“It’s clear that the city’s permit process needs streamlining and clarity,” Rosado says. “Residents complain to me daily about how confusing, lax and inconsistent those processes are. Countless senior citizens and others have told me that they have done work without permits because of the department’s poor performance.” 

Regalado has not responded to multiple requests for comment from the Spotlight. 

The son of former Miami mayor and current Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser Tomás Regalado, Jose Regalado recently resigned from his $150,000-a-year job as assistant director of the City of Miami’s building department in order to run for the commission seat. 

In campaign ads, Regalado has portrayed himself as a protege of Reyes, whom he served as a policy advisor. Other ads tout Regalado’s family history in politics, showing him smiling wide by the side of his father and sister, Miami-Dade District 7 Commissioner Raquel Regalado.

The candidates have yet to publicly debate each other.

Last week, Rosado appeared at a candidate forum hosted by the Silver Bluff Homeowners Association. Next to him was an empty seat behind a desktop card bearing Regalado’s name. Rosado later posted on Instagram that he was “the only candidate who showed up.”

The purported no-show played into criticism that Regalado has shied away from media appearances and avoided explaining his policy stances in hopes of coasting into office on name recognition.

Regalado emailed the homeowners association asserting that the event’s organizers offered “no direct conversation, no confirmation of my availability, and no discussion of debate format or topics.” 

He went on to say the moderator had “a close public relationship” with a commissioner (a clear reference to Miami District 3 Commissioner Joe Carollo), who Regalado claimed is “actively managing” Rosado’s campaign and funding attacks against Regalado.

In recent weeks, Rosado has attempted to downplay his interactions with Carollo, whose tenure on the commission is marred by a $63 million civil judgment for weaponizing code enforcement against two Little Havana business owners. 

Scrutiny of Rosado’s connection to Carollo ramped up after the local news blog Political Cortadito spotted and recorded Carollo walking behind the scenes in a Rosado video shoot at Douglas Park in Miami’s Silver Bluff neighborhood. 

The outlet reported that Carollo’s political committee has bankrolled misleading mailers targeting Regalado, including one portraying him as a communist sympathizer (based on a photo he took alongside Hollywood actor and activist Sean Penn).

Political ads in favor of Regalado have hit back by caricaturing Rosado as a literal puppet with strings in the hands of Carollo.

Pardo, whose district includes Coconut Grove, recently proposed a voter referendum on so-called lifetime term limits, which would cap elective office for commissioner and mayor at any part of two terms – a measure that stands to block Carollo from running again for those offices.

If passed, the proposal would mark a major shift in municipal governance for a city known for its political dynasties.

Rosado tells the Spotlight that he supports the idea of lifetime term limits for Miami municipal officials and wants to put the issue to voters. 

“Because it is such a fundamental restructuring of the city’s government, I look forward to hearing voters’ wishes on this issue via a referendum,” Rosado says. 

Rosado previously ran unsuccessfully for the City Commission against the late Reyes in 2017, the year Reyes was first elected as commissioner. Rosado later served as North Bay Village manager from 2019 to 2024. 

This is Regalado’s first run for the commission. He has garnered the support of Reyes’ widow, who stated in political ads that she believes Regalado will carry on her husband’s legacy at City Hall.

A recent poll by Kaplan Strategies indicates the race is tight, with the candidates each securing 27 percent of respondents’ support.

Both candidates claim they have the expertise to alleviate the housing crisis in Miami, which consistently ranked as one of the least affordable housing markets in the country following the pandemic.

Regalado’s campaign literature claims that while working as an assistant director in the Miami Building Department, “he modernized operations, strengthened the Unsafe Structures Division after Surfside, and expanded programs that supported homeowners and fast-tracked affordable housing.”

Rosado told the Spotlight that as commissioner, he’d push the city to take advantage of its land holdings to aggressively build out more affordable housing.

“Miami is one the largest landowners in the county. I would like to immediately require Miami’s administration to make the City’s land assets available to whomever can produce quality mixed-income housing projects at the most competitive costs,” Rosado said.