Special to South Florida Times
Two of Miami-Dade’s political veterans are locked in a fierce struggle over seats on the County Commission in the Aug. 4 elections.
District 1 Incumbent Barbara Jordan, 69, is facing challengers including outgoing Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson, 68.
District 3 incumbent Audrey Edmonson is facing opponents including Alison Austin, CEO of the Belafonte TACOLCY Center.
Also in the District 1 race is Wade Jones, 38, a consultant who worked as a community liaison for Edmonson and served as superintendent of transit operations for Miami-Dade County from 2005 to 2007.
District 1 has 200,000 residents and comprises parts of Liberty City, Carol City and Norland.
Edmonson’s other challengers include Eddie Lewis, community activist and former property appraiser; Keon Hardemon, an assistant public defender; Michael Jackson Joseph, civil rights attorney, member of the Miami-Dade County Small Business Advisory Board and 2011 member of the City of Miami Bayfront Park Management Trust; and Nadia Pierre, who served the Miami-Dade County Police Department primarily as a criminal analyst specialist for 28 years.
District 3 includes parts of Liberty City, Little Haiti, Overtown, the Upper East Side, Allapattah, Brownsville, Wynwood, El Portal, Miami Shores and North Miami.
Incumbent County Commissioner Dennis Moss of District 9 is being opposed by challengers including Loretta Riley, founder and CEO of I Spoke Inc.
Several legislative seats are also in play. Dwight M. Bullard, 35, educator at Coral Reef Senior High School, who has represented the 118th House seat since 2008, is seeking election to the Senate District 39 seat. So too is James Bush III, 57, who has represented the 109th House seat from 2008 to 2010.
For the state House, Sharon Pritchett is seeking the District 102 seat. She served for 2003-2011 on the Miami Gardens City Council. Her focus would be on better programs for children and seniors and job-creation.
Incumbent Daphne Campbell is being challenged by Alix Desulme for her House District seat 108.
Another House incumbent, Cynthia Stafford, 45, of District 109, is being opposed by Bernadine Bush, a Miami educator and wife of James Bush III.
For the state House District 117 seat, two South Miami-Dade natives are facing off: Kionne McGhee and Harold Ford.
In other races, incumbent Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, 69, is again being challenged by Rudy Moise, a doctor, who lost to her in 2010.
Rod Vereen is challenging incumbent Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
Greer Elaine Wallace is seeking the Group 24 County Court seat. She is a graduate of Michigan State University and the University of Florida and has been a practicing attorney for 32 years.
Teretha Lundy Thomas, who has served as a county judge for some 19 years, is running for re-election to the Group 33 seat and faces her first challenge. She is the first black female administrative judge in Miami-Dade and is the only black female judge in the county.
Cynthia Roby may be reached at CynthiaRoby@bellsouth.net
Photo: Alix Desulme
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