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‘Don’t sleep on Florida’: Miami-Dade Democrats make the case that Florida is in play

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‘Don’t sleep on Florida’: Miami-Dade Democrats make the case that Florida is in play


Miami-Dade Democrats sought to move past months of infighting and internal drama on Saturday at their annual Blue Gala in Miami Beach.

Bringing in the top brass of the Miami-Dade, state and national parties, the gala was framed as a pep rally for Democrats, who are hoping to head off a possible electoral drubbing in Florida in November. Democrats need to run up big margins in Miami-Dade in order to have a shot at winning both the presidency and statewide office, but that has proved increasingly difficult in recent years, most notably in 2022, when both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio won the county.

With just over six weeks to go before Election Day, party leaders on Saturday rallied around the hope that the electoral rout they suffered two years ago was an anomaly born out of internal dysfunction and low voter turnout. This year, they vowed, will be different.

“Don’t sleep on Florida,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said before a packed ballroom at the Miami Beach Convention Center. “Something special is going on in this state right now…and I think it’s going to shock the world. I think it’s going to shock the nation. And I know it’s going to give Republicans a shock.”

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In a brief interview with the Miami Herald on Saturday night, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said that the Blue Gala represented “the rebuilding of the Miami-Dade” Democratic Party after a rough stretch earlier this year.

Florida Democratic Party leaders forcibly removed the Miami-Dade party’s chairman, Robert Dempster, in March after Fried suspended him for what she argued were repeated violations of the state party’s rules and bylaws. That kicked off a heated and divisive race to succeed Dempster as the head of the Miami-Dade party – a job that eventually went to state Sen. Shevrin Jones.

Fried, a Miami native, said that the county party is experiencing a resurgence.

“You see a sold-out crowd, you have the chairman of the DNC who’s here as our keynote speaker,” Fried said. “You have [elected officials] that are here, leaning back into the local party, understanding that we can do all of this great work across the rest of the state, but if Miami-Dade doesn’t produce the numbers and show once again that Miami is a stronghold for Democrats, it doesn’t matter what happens in the rest of the state.”

Fried noted that things are looking up for Democrats in Miami-Dade, pointing to County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s reelection win last month as a sign that Democratic voters were willing to turn out this year.

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Democrats are also hoping that a pair of proposed constitutional amendments that will appear on the ballot in November — one that would legalize recreational marijuana and another that would enshrine broad protections for abortion rights into state law — will help boost turnout among Democratic voters.

Yet there are still significant challenges. Statewide, there are now nearly one million more active registered Republican voters in Democrats, and Republicans are increasingly bullish about the notion that former President Donald Trump could pick up Miami-Dade County in the November presidential election.

Taking the stage Saturday night, Jones, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party chairman, acknowledged the divisions that had beset the party, but insisted that Vice President Kamala Harris’ path to the “White House runs through” Miami-Dade. He said it was incumbent upon Democrats to “build bridges” within the party and put their differences aside.

“While we didn’t see eye to eye on all things, we all had one common goal, and that was to get the damn job done,” Jones said. “The Miami-Dade Democratic Party is back and we are not going back and we will win in November.”



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Miami, FL

MLS: Messi double helps Inter Miami slay Rapids in front of huge crowd

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MLS: Messi double helps Inter Miami slay Rapids in front of huge crowd


Argentine forward’s brace included the match winner against Colorado Rapids in front of over 75,000 fans in Denver.

Lionel Messi scored a brace and ‌German Berterame headed another as Inter Miami earned a ⁠3-2 win over ⁠the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer (MLS) on Saturday in Denver.

Messi scored the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute. He started a run just inside midfield and went ⁠unchallenged until the box, where he blasted into the upper left corner for a 3-2 lead.

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Rafael Navarro and Darren Yapi each scored for Colorado (4-4-0, 12 points) in front of 75,824 at Empower Field, the second-largest crowd in MLS history.

Miami (4-1-3, 15 points) took a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute after Colorado goalkeeper Zack Steffen’s pass was intercepted by Yannick Bright. Josh Atencio offered a hard challenge ‌and was shown a yellow card after video review.

Messi took the resulting penalty and rolled his shot straight down the middle as Miami took a 1-0 lead.

Colorado had a solid look at the goal when midfielder Wayne Frederick attempted a one-touch lob. Miami goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair was out of position and well beyond the penalty arc after heading away a loose ball, but Frederick’s attempt sailed ⁠over the open net.

In the fifth minute of first-half stoppage ⁠time, Miami extended their lead to 2-0, connecting on a series of passes deep in their attacking third. Messi got the run of play started with a tight touch pass to Rodrigo De ⁠Paul.

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De Paul sent Mateo Silvetti on a run to the boundary line. His inward-spinning cross floated to the front of ⁠goal, where Berterame rose above the Colorado defence and ⁠tucked a header under the bar.

Navarro’s goal cut Miami’s lead to 2-1. He started a run in midfield and used a step-over move to get an open shot a few steps into the ‌box that tucked inside the left post past a diving St. Clair in the 58th minute.

In the 62nd minute, second-half substitute Yapi settled on a direct pass from Lucas ‌Herrington ‌and sizzled a shot past St. Clair for the equaliser.

Miami closed the win playing a man down as Yannick Bright was sent off with a red card in the 87th minute.

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi scores his 13th-minute penalty against the Colorado Rapids [Geneva Heffernan/AP]



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Former Titans GM mock Miami right tackle to the Cleveland Browns at 6

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Former Titans GM mock Miami right tackle to the Cleveland Browns at 6


The Cleveland Browns traded for an extended right tackle, former Houston Texan Tytus Howard, at the start of free agency as they began their rebuild of the offensive line that was awful in 2025. But Howard has played every position on the offensive line except for center, so if it’s all about getting your best five on the field, which it should be, there’s a chance Howard doesn’t play at right tackle in 2026.

While doing a mock draft on Peter Schrager’s podcast, former Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon had the Browns drafting Miami (FL) right tackle sixth overall. He talked about the issue with Howard, but said Mauigoa could either take over the tackle spot or be a really good guard.

Carthon said he knows that Mauigoa would be one of their best five, whether it is at guard or tackle. Some will say that a guy who may be best at guard isn’t worth the sixth overall pick, and I have to disagree. You should draft the best football players, and Francis Mauigoa is my highest-rated offensive lineman and seventh overall. It might be at guard, but I have a good feeling that Mauigoa will find a home in the NFL as a high-quality offensive lineman.



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Inventory drops for first time since 2023 as sales rebound across coastal Miami, beaches

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Inventory drops for first time since 2023 as sales rebound across coastal Miami, beaches


Inventory of homes and condos across the coastal Miami mainland and Miami Beach and the barrier island markets fell in the first quarter, marking the first big inventory drops since 2023.  

The Corcoran Group’s first quarter reports don’t cover all of Miami-Dade County, but they offer insight into how the coastal markets, which have a higher share of luxury properties, are performing.

In Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, Miami Beach, Fisher Island and Key Biscayne, single-family home inventory dropped 15 percent annually to 398 listings, and condo inventory was down 13 percent to 3,919 listings. 

On Miami’s coastal mainland markets, which include Aventura, Miami Shores, Upper East Side, Edgewater, downtown Miami, Brickell, Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, inventory slipped 4 percent to 4,584 condo listings and 555 single-family listings, down 6 percent year-over-year. 

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Here’s a closer look at the market: 

Miami Beach and the barrier islands

Single-family sales rose 13 percent year-over-year to 85 closings, the first time they have increased since the second quarter of 2024. Condo closings rose 15 percent to 693 closings, the first increase since the last quarter of 2024. 

Pricing dropped, with the median price of single-family homes down 4 percent to $3.5 million and the median condo price down 9 percent to $640,000. The average price per square foot was nearly flat at $1,119. 

Still, buyers set records with their purchases. Billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg paid $170 million for the waterfront mansion at 7 Indian Creek Island Road, and Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz paid $44 million, or $7,949 per square foot, for a penthouse at the Four Seasons Residences at The Surf Club. 

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Coastal mainland 

Sales of single-family homes on the coastal mainland rose 16 percent to 220 closings. While markets like Coral Gables experienced declines in condo and single-family home sales, Coconut Grove home sales surged — up over 100 percent for single-family homes to 47 closings and up 55 percent to 87 condo closings. Condo sales rose 13 percent to 759 closings. 

The median price of single-family homes across the coastal mainland rose 11 percent to just over $2 million. The median price of condos increased slightly, up 1 percent, to $602,000. 

The priciest deals in the first quarter were the $32 million trade of 12 Tahiti Beach Island Road in Coral Gables, and the $19.8 million sale of a penthouse at Vita at Grove Isle. 





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