MIAMI (WSVN) – The polls have closed in the Florida primary as voters voiced their choice in several different contests.

South Florida voters made clear who they wanted for key positions such as county mayor, sheriff, and school board.

Miami-Dade Mayor

Incumbent Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava easily won re-election with nearly 60% of the vote, defeating her five challengers in the election and avoiding a November runoff.

Levine-Cava held an election watch party in Little Havana where she celebrated her victory with supporters.

“I’m so very proud to have earned the support of the majority of the voters today, decisively. I am a mayor for all people. It does not matter to me whether you voted for me or not, I’m going to continue to do everything in my power, work day and night, to solve our problems, to build better opportunities, to be future ready and we have so many things that are underway and people can feel good that someone is leading this county in a way to make sure they can all benefit and that the rising tide can lift all boats,” said Levine-Cava.

Following the race call, Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid, who many saw as Levine-Cava’s strongest opponent, conceded the race in front of his supporters.

“Although we weren’t victorious tonight, I think the plight of the middle class, we’ve shone a light on that more than ever here in Miami-Dade County. Working families and small businesses must endure their dreams and aspirations have become my dreams and aspirations. If you look at the vote totals, we received over 60,000 votes. Daniella Levine-Cava, while I wish her family and herself well, they received about 59, 58% of the vote, but it goes to show you, there’s an entire portion of Miami-Dade County that feels that they are left out,” said Cid.

Cid said he is unsure if he will run for office again in four years.

Miami-Dade Sheriff

Voters also decided a major showdown for the county’s first sheriff in decades.

Democrat James Reyes will face off against Republican Rosanna Cordero-Stutz in November.

Reyes is the current Chief of Public Safety in Miami-Dade County, During the campaign, Reyes cited his years of experience at the Broward Sheriff’s Office as critical preparation for this role. He managed the Broward Sheriff’s Office budget and believes this experience is crucial in the new role of sheriff.

“Truly honored to gain the support of this wonderful community, a community that received me with open arms when me and my family came from Cuba and gave us all the opportunities under the sun, so to speak, to achieve the American Dream,” said Reyes.

Cordero-Stutz has served with the Miami-Dade Police Department for 27 years. During the campaign, she vowed to not let politics get in the way of the department’s job. She also had the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. Cordero Stutz aims to become the first female sheriff in the county’s history.

“The fight is not over. This is not the finish line. The finish line is down the road. Join me as we move forward together,” said Cordero-Stutz.

Miami-Dade School Board

In the District 3 school board race, Joseph Geller and Martin Karp will head to a November runoff to decide who will win the open seat.

In District 7, incumbent Mary Blanco will head to a November runoff to face off against Maxeme Tuchman.

In District 9, incumbent Luisa Santos cruised to re-election as she garnered over 60% of the vote.

Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A Miami Gardens woman accused of beating her 3-year-old daughter with a clothes hanger in an incident caught on video is now facing criminal charges.

Aaliyah Shantrelle Herring, 25, was arrested on charges of child abuse and neglect on Monday, online records show.

The video was taken by a man the woman identified as the child’s father.

In the video, the mother, appearing to be filled with rage and holding a clothes hanger, is seen moving toward her daughter, who was heard crying in the background.

“You want to sit down and lay down and have a [expletive] baby and not be able to take care of it after you know my [expletive] health conditions?” The mother was heard asking the father in the video.

Miami Gardens police said the video shows the woman “repeatedly beating a young child,” with an agency sergeant telling Local 10 News, “It was very, very hard for us to watch.”

Police said she was Baker Acted.

According to an arrest report, Herring claimed in a police interview Monday that she was disciplining her child for “throwing a remote at her.”

Herring was booked into Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and was being held on a $7,500 bond as of Tuesday afternoon.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the suspect’s age.

The preseason numbers have been pretty ugly for Miami Dolphins backup quarterbacks Skylar Thompson and Mike White. There’s no way to sugarcoat it.

They’ve been bad enough — each has a passer rating under 60 with a completion percentage under 50 — that there have been calls from Dolphins beat writers for the Dolphins to find another veteran quarterback somewhere else. It could be Ryan Tannehill for some, or it could be just anyone not named Mike White or Skylar Thompson for others.

Head coach Mike McDaniel isn’t focusing on the numbers, though. It says here that the Dolphins will be perfectly fine rolling with either White or Thompson or maybe both.

McDaniel was asked Monday to describe his comfort level with his backup quarterbacks at the moment, and while he didn’t provide a definitive answer, he made one thing clear.

He’s been looking beyond stats all summer.

“Let’s go back to I have a good amount of history with both quarterbacks, and both quarterbacks have been able to win NFL football games against good opponents in the regular season,” McDaniel began his lengthy answer. “They both have things about their game that I really like and so this whole offseason, we started with acknowledging that and how can we appropriately find some distinction between the two, just because we felt like they’ve both proven in years past to be quality backups.

“So quite honestly, what the approach that I’ve kind of taken is to create super difficult situations for both of them and as that manifests, whether the play-calling choice, the situations that I’m asking maybe them to do certain things specifically to put them in difficult situations, because what are we really trying to evaluate? We’re trying to evaluate who’s best to serve handling a difficult situation. Inherent in being a backup quarterback is that you are in a difficult situation, whether that’s in game or starting a game.

“So we thought it was most appropriate to do that, and how that’s presented itself in practice is I’ve gotten a ton of information. There’s so many different nuances that I’m trying to focus on on a given day and then carrying that message to the game. It’s much broader than do we go down as an offense and score. It’s quite literally handling difficult situations and saying, ‘Hey, you have to go do this. I’m going to call this play, probably against a non-premier coverage. And let’s see what you do.’ I’m going to — you’re going to play a quarter with a receiver playing running back. How do you respond?

“And so from my vantage point, I feel bad, because all that information, whether I was a fan or I was sitting in your guys’ seats, I’m not sure if it totally reflects the entire process and all the information. I’m looking for nuances, resolve, the conviction after a bad play happens, how the offense is coming to the line of scrimmage, how you’re leading them, all sorts of different things on top of what I’ve already learned about them.”

McDaniel did go on a bit with his answer, summarizing that he’s both White and Thompson in tough situations and would continue to do so this week leading up to the preseason finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on Friday night.

He ended by saying all information would be evaluated to determine the most suitable guy to back up Tua Tagovailoa.

The official depth chart, which the Dolphins only produce because it’s a league requirement, lists White as the second-team quarterback behind Tua and ahead of Thompson. However, it’s Thompson who has gotten the first action between the two in the first two preseason games.

The latter could be seen as an indication that Thompson actually could be ahead in the competition. However, McDaniel’s comment might suggest that he’s looking to test White more by having him play with third-string offensive teammates and, as mentioned, finishing the Washington game with rookie wide receiver Je’Quan Burton at running back because Chris Brooks was injured. McDaniel wanted to avoid putting Raheem Mostert or De’Von Achane back in the game.

The Dolphins will have to reduce their active roster to 53 players by next Tuesday at 4:00 PM, and one major question is whether they’ll keep both White and Thompson because of the new emergency third quarterback rule — that player can now be on the practice squad — could make a difference.

As for who will win the No. 2 job, it still says here it will be Mike White because he’s just a more consistent quarterback, but maybe it wouldn’t be a shocker if it went the other way.

It would be surprising to see the Dolphins go outside the organization for their second quarterback.

For one, there aren’t appealing alternatives out there, and that includes Tannehill. The former Dolphins first-round pick could be a better scheme fit for an offense that calls for quick decision-making in the pocket.

Beyond Tannehill, there aren’t any QBs on the market who remotely move the needle. And as for the idea of scouring the waiver wire after August 27, why would anyone think it would be a better option to bring in somebody whose previous team didn’t deem worthy enough of not only the No. 2 job but even a roster spot — because we don’t see teams cutting a dependable third quarterback. Oh, and that new quarterback would have less than two weeks to learn the offense in time for the start of the regular season.

So, yeah, like it or not, the Dolphins’ backup quarterback will be Mike White or Skylar Thompson. And, yes, it would be nice if either or both had lit it up in the first two games of the preseason, but let’s always remember that preseason games mean only some things in the grand scope.