Four Haitian Americans are running in Miami-Dade election, raising worries about vote

The number of Haitian-American candidates running for the Miami-Dade County Commission seat for District 2 is raising some concerns in the community about a split vote during the August election.

Some Haitian-American residents have expressed concerns about having four Haitian-American candidates vying in the commission race because they worry that the votes will be divided, making it easier for one of the two non-Haitian candidates to win.

“Why did they all have to run?” said Jean Claude Coles, a patron at L’Auberge Haitian Restaurant in North Miami.

The four Haitian-American candidates are Marleine Bastien, a longtime activist who founded the organization Family Action Network Movement; Philippe Bien-Aime, the mayor of North Miami; Wallace Aristide, a former principal of Miami Northwestern Senior High; and Joe Celestin, a former North Miami mayor. The other two candidates running for the seat are William DC Clark, a retired Miami-Dade paramedic, and Monique Nicole Barley-Mayo, a business consultant.

“I think the community should have come to a consensus,” said Gregory Pierre-Louis, a Haitian resident of North Miami. “We should be able to screen them ourselves among the leadership in the community and have an agreement where we send one that we know could go forward against any opponent.”

READ MORE: Who’s on the ballot for Miami-Dade County Commission?

The candidates are campaigning to succeed Jean Monestime, whose term is drawing to a close as county commissioner for District 2, which covers the northern end of the city of Miami and boroughs north of the city, as well as North Miami and North Miami Beach.

“On the Haitian side, the votes will be diluted because the four candidates share a base,” said Celestin. “So, when you start sharing the votes between four candidates, you do not have the power you would have had if you only had one Haitian candidate that was supposed to get that base.”

Bastien, who was the first candidate to file for the position in September 2019, said candidates knew of that risk. “Everybody knew about it and still entered the race,” she said.

Having multiple people running for the same seat is not only desired but also crucial in a democracy, said Charnette Frederic, the chairwoman of The National Haitian American Elected Officials Network.

“We cannot tell people to run or not to run,” Frederic said.

She said it could be a “major problem” if worries about the number of candidates led some to not vote at all.

Vanessa Joseph, the vice chair of the Haitian American Professionals Coalition, said that some people see a value in having multiple candidates.

“Had those people not jumped in the race, they may not have known that they could have had an opportunity to vote for those individuals,” Joseph said.

Census data from 2020 shows more than 120,000 residents of Haitian descent live in Miami-Dade County, and many of them are concentrated in Northeast Dade, in District 2. About 33% of North Miami residents are Haitians and the growing Haitian-American population comes with rising political influence.

Pursuing the Haitian voters

The candidates are trying to court Haitian-American voters by visiting local churches, displaying targeted Creole billboards in Haitian businesses, airing Creole advertisements on Haitian radio stations and having surrogates frequently host on those radio programs to draw support.

“We go to church, and we go to different ones every Sunday,” Aristide said.

Bastien is primarily conducting a grassroots campaign in her community.

“My campaign is rooted in reaching out,” Bastien said. “I am organizing a very strong ground strategy. It’s a combination of mainly knocking on doors and making calls to them directly.”

Celestin, the first elected Haitian-American mayor in North Miami, counts on his past accomplishments for the community to convince voters.

“I am the one, as mayor of the city, who, for the first time in history, demanded that America recognizes the efforts of Haitian Americans during the Revolutionary War,” Celestin said.

Bien-Aime is relying on the past support he has received from the Haitian-American community.

“When it comes to the Haitian-American voters, I trust them,” Bien-Aime said. “They’ve been tested four times when it comes to me, and I think they are going to be tested a fifth time. And I’m pretty much sure I’m going to get the majority of the votes.”

Bien-Aime served as the District 3 councilman on the North Miami City Council and a vice mayor before being elected mayor of the city of North Miami in 2019. He was reelected last year, but he resigned in May 2022 to comply with Florida’s resign-to-run law, which requires incumbents to resign from a current position in order to run for another.

Each candidate has hosted several in-person fundraising events over the past few months to build support and share their plans for addressing critical issues for the community.

“The Haitian community, who saw themselves pushed out of Little Haiti as a result of gentrification, worries that they may be pushed out of other communities,” Joseph said.

Housing affordability and access to economic opportunities are key issues for Haitian-American voters, Joseph said. Addressing gun violence is also a big factor for voters in that community.

“If I were to vote today honestly, I would take a chance on Joe Celestin for his qualifications,” said Jean Jean Louis, a Haitian resident of North Miami Beach. “I think Bien-Aime is a slap on the face. He just won his seat last May, I believe. He should have respected the people’s vote — stayed in office, finished his term, instead of chasing on a larger scale.”

Norman Whyte, who is of Jamaican descent and an active member of the local Democratic Executive Committee, said that “it’s good to see” four Haitian-American candidates in the race — although that’s not strategic to keeping the seat. He said he is “highly confident” that the candidates know to address issues affecting the broader district, not just the Haitian-American community.

Miami-Dade’s District 2 is highly diverse, with 59,633 Black, 31,081 Hispanic, 5,420 white and 7,987 other potential voters, according to a district demographic analysis from the supervisor of elections.

Monestime, who was the first Haitian American elected to represent District 2 in 2010, has so far not endorsed any of the candidates. Monestime has not responded to the Miami Herald’s request for comment.

“The Haitians voters are important,” said Celestin. “But more importantly, I think because of the number of Haitians that are in the race — more than ever — all votes are important.”

Representing the whole district

Each of the Haitian-American candidates asserted their ability to connect with and work for the diverse constituents of District 2.

Aristide says his past position as educator and principal in the Miami-Dade County public schools, during which he worked with students and families from all backgrounds, will help rally voters.

“With people like that telling people about you, you get buy-in in their community” Aristide said. “People could talk about us and say what we’ve done in the African-American community, Haitian American, Jamaican American — you name it.”

“Now you can see we are in the African-American community,” said Bien-Aime at a cookout event he organized as part of his campaign in North Central Dade. “I’m pretty much sure whether it’s the Haitian-American voters, whether it’s the African-American voters or the Latino voters, they’re going to pick the best of the best.”

Bastien spent a Saturday afternoon in early July knocking on doors in Allapattah, a neighborhood that is mainly home to the Hispanic community, to introduce herself and her plans.

Bastien leads with $225,063.43 in monetary campaign contributions, according to the latest campaign finance reports. She is followed by Aristide, who has raised $187,581.30.

The Biscayne Gardens Civic Association held a debate forum on July 7 for all of the candidates. Barley-Mayo, who ran for Miami-Dade mayor in 2020, did not attend it. She told the Miami Herald that although she “already knew that this district would be sort of a Haitian race,” she is not worried about facing the four candidates. She had strong support in District 2 during the mayoral elections, finishing third ahead of two sitting county commissioners in the race.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for either me or DC Clark,” Barley-Mayo said on the split votes.

Clark told the Miami Herald he wanted to unite Black residents and Haitian Americans of District 2.

If none of the candidates in the Aug. 23 primary receives more than 50% of the votes, the top two will go to a runoff on Nov. 8.