Screenshots via @LauraLoomer/X
Audio By Carbonatix
If you’ve sorted through your mail in Miami recently, you’ve probably come across mailers for the city’s upcoming mayoral race. Some have labeled city commissioner Joe Carollo “unfit” for mayor, while others have criticized his rival, candidate Emilio González.
A few mailers, however, might’ve made you do a double-take: has President Donald Trump thrown his weight behind Carollo for mayor?
Mailers recently sent from Miami First, Carollo’s political committee, feature several photos of the longtime city commissioner posing, shaking hands with, and even dancing in a ballroom at Mar-a-Lago alongside Trump. There’s a Spanish-language and English-language version of the ad, the latter of which reads: “JOE CAROLLO, More than 25 years with President Trump, defending our Republican principles and values.”
But while the mailers sure might look like an endorsement of some sort from the president, a White House official tells New Times that’s certainly not the case.
“The President has not endorsed or engaged in this race,” they wrote in an email.
Carollo tells New Times he sent the mailers to local Republican voters in response to his opponent, González, sending anti-Carollo flyers.
“That was a mailer so the Republican voters could see both sides,” Carollo said. “These are pictures throughout many years, [photos] the president has taken with me while being president, way before he was president. I’ve known him for many, many years. I’ve been able to have lunch and dinner with him on business matters before he was president, one-on-one.”
A photo on the mailer, captioned “Dancing with the President and First Lady Melania Trump at Mar-a-Lago,” features Carollo and his wife swaying on the dance floor while the Trumps appear to linger in the background (apparently close enough for campaign purposes).
Carollo says he doesn’t believe the mailers imply any sort of endorsement from the president.
“Nowhere does [the mailer] say anything about an endorsement,” Carollo says. “Come on.”
Carollo, who previously served as mayor in the late 1990s and has been on the city commission since 2017, officially joined the crowded mayoral race in late September.
He’s running against thirteen candidates, including Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez, and former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell. He raked in more than $700,000 in campaign donations this summer and is currently leading the pack of mayoral candidates in fundraising.
Carollo recently caught the attention of Florida’s very own far-right provocateur and self-described proud Islamophobe Laura Loomer, who deemed Carollo “woke” and not a true Republican.
Loomer referenced an August story about Carollo’s monthly event in Little Havana featuring performances by a local Cuban drag queen. She included a screenshot of New Times’ Facebook post about the story along with a quote from Carollo noting that the performers “are not transvestites.”
She also pointed out that Carollo’s District 3 staff was recently caught on video taking down campaign signs that touted González.
“It’s very important that Miami, Florida, remains RED and that a strong, America First, pro-Trump candidate becomes mayor of Miami, that’s the city where President Trump’s Presidential library is being built,” Loomer wrote in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) on October 20. “We cannot allow Miami to become a cesspool of WOKE degeneracy.”
