Carlos A. Giménez

From May 2000 to January 2003, Giménez served as city manager of Miami proper. In 2004, he was elected as a Miami-Dade County Commissioner for the county's 7th district, beating former Mayor of Miami and eventual successor Xavier Suarez.[11][12] His district included Miami proper, the Village of Key Biscayne, Coral Gables, South Miami, Kendall, and Pinecrest.[13]

Mayor Carlos Giménez and USAID Administrator Mark Andrew Green

Giménez was elected mayor of the metropolitan government of Miami-Dade County, Florida on June 28, 2011, in the 2011 Miami-Dade County mayoral election. Incumbent mayor Carlos Alvarez had been recalled in one of the largest recall elections of a municipal official in United States history.[14] No candidate got over 50% of the popular vote in the first round so a runoff election was held. Gimenez won the runoff election with 51% of the vote against Julio Robaina's 49%.[15]

During his 2011 campaign, Giménez promised that if he were to be elected, he would cut his own salary. After he was elected, Giménez kept this promise, cutting his own salary and benefits by 50%.[16]

Giménez won re-election in the 2012 Miami-Dade County mayoral election with 54% of the vote against multiple candidates[17] and again in 2016 with 56% of the vote against school board member Raquel Regalado.[18]

In 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting "sanctuary" jurisdictions that limited or refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, ordering a review of their access to federal funding.[19] Miami-Dade received a letter from the administration that the county had been flagged as a sanctuary jurisdiction. Giménez then ordered the director of his corrections department to begin honoring all requests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Miami Dade County Board of Commissioners formally codified his order by a 9 to 3 vote.[20][21] The Department of Justice later confirmed the county was no longer flagged as a sanctuary jurisdiction.[22][23] In December 2018, the Florida Third District Court of Appeal dismissed a lawsuit filed in state court against the county's policy.[24]

In the lead-up to the 2020 election, which was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, Gimenez limited the number of ballot drop locations.[25] His office sent mail-in ballots to voters later than state law required.[25] Gimenez blocked the Miami Heat from offering the AA Arena as an early-voting location.[25] Before Gimenez's decision to block the arrangement, election administrators were on the brink of making an agreement with the Miami Heat for the arena as a voting location.[25]

In January 2020, Giménez announced he was running for the Republican nomination in the 2020 U.S. House election for Florida's 26th congressional district.[5] Gimenez was term-limited from running again as mayor.[26] In the 2016 presidential election, Giménez had endorsed Hillary Clinton.[27] In 2020, he said that he had "made a mistake" in supporting Clinton.[28] Having previously distanced himself from Trump, Giménez ran as a pro-Trump Republican in 2020. He ran on a platform of repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare),[29] and opposing a carbon tax.[29] Giménez was endorsed by President Trump in January 2020.[30] On August 18, 2020, Giménez won the Republican primary election, defeating Omar Blanco with 59.9% of the vote.[31][32] Giménez won the general election against incumbent Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.[26][33]

After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Gimenez defended Trump and said he should not concede. He later voted against certification of the electoral college votes for Arizona and Pennsylvania.[34] Giménez joined fellow Miami Republicans Mario Díaz-Balart and Maria Elvira Salazar and voted against the second impeachment of Donald Trump on January 13, 2021.[35]

In late 2020, Giménez was a member of Freedom Force, a group of incoming Republican members of the House of Representatives who "say they’re fighting against socialism in America".[36][37][38][39] On February 4, 2021, he joined 10 other Republican House members voting with all voting Democrats to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her House Education and Labor Committee, and House Budget Committee assignments in response to controversial political statements she had made.[40]

• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure [41]
• Committee on Homeland Security [42]
• Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. [43]