As first reported by Political Cortadito blogger Elaine de Valle, Galvez Turros — who lost a previous bid for a seat on the Miami City Commission in 2017 — has officially filed paperwork to run for the City of Miami's District 3 seat. The seat is currently held by Commissioner Joe Carollo, who is considering a mayoral run in November.
Galvez Turros will face off against Carollo's brother, former commissioner Frank Carollo, and Brenda Betancourt, president of the Calle Ocho Inter-American Chamber of Commerce and a frequent speaker at commission meetings.
The Miami native says her campaign will focus on public safety, government efficiency, clean streets, better public transportation, and historic preservation, according to a recent Instagram post.
"After years of pushing for meaningful change from the outside as an activist, Galvez Turros is now stepping forward to deliver results from within City Hall," reads a press release announcing her candidacy. "Her campaign focuses on enhancing public safety and public transportation, revitalizing neighborhoods, preserving Miami's historic character and tree canopy, and cutting government waste and corruption."
That said, aspects of her past have raised some questions.
She was previously arrested twice — once in 1994 for credit card theft, and again in 2010 for driving under the influence.
In 1994, Galvez Turros (then known as Denise Victoria Galvez) was arrested on a felony charge of credit card theft of more than $300, along with a misdemeanor charge of illegal card signing. State court records show that the charges were later downgraded to misdemeanors and eventually dismissed.
The county database shows that the criminal records have been destroyed.
In December 2010, she was charged with driving under the influence and disorderly intoxication. County records note that the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office never prosecuted the charges, and the case was dropped in March 2011.
Mugshot photos unearthed by de Valle following the arrest show a cheesing Galvez Turros.
And while her LinkedIn indicates that she graduated from Florida International University (FIU) in 1997 with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Communications, as well as a degree in Political Science, an FIU spokesperson tells New Times that Galvez Turros attended FIU — but never graduated from the university.
In a text with New Times, Galvez Turros said she would ask the "girls" who handle social media for her PR firm to "confirm this" — adding she is "no expert on LinkedIn" but believes her profile should list both Miami Dade College and FIU as schools she "attended."
She explained that owing to financial hardship, she began working full-time while still in high school and continued doing so through college.
"Print whatever you like that’s what your publication usually does," she wrote.
From PR to Politics
According to her LinkedIn, Galvez Turros has owned a boutique PR firm, Go To Marketing, since 2006 and has served on the City of Miami's Historical and Environmental Protection Board since 2018.In the summer of 2016, Galvez Turros and Miami Republican Sen. Ileana Garcia (who, at the time, was the Trump campaign's communications director for Latino outreach) launched Latinas for Trump with a "Coming Out Trump" party at a Coral Gables bar. At the event, dozens of women wore bright red T-shirts and publicly declared their support of Trump for the first time.
"It’s easier coming out gay than it is coming out GOP or as a Trump supporter as a Latina," Galvez Turros told a reporter during the event. "Early in the election, we would be out with a group of girls and we’d we'd be talking politics. And all the people who liked Hillary would start talking and the rest of us would stay quiet. That's what this is about tonight. People coming out and saying it: ‘I’m Latina, and I support Donald Trump.'"
Months later, she penned an op-ed for CNBC titled "I’m a Latina and here’s why I support Trump—and his immigration plan."
In the piece, she wrote that while she sees the "beauty of the diverse cultures converging in this country firsthand," as a Cuban-American living in Miami, she considers herself "American first."
"Latina or not, the American Dream comes at a price — it comes with strings attached such as the profound belief in and the support of Democracy, the Bill of Rights and the laws that govern this country and its sovereignty," she wrote. "A growing number of Latinas and Latinos just like myself agree with Mr. Donald J. Trump on his plans for immigration because it puts America and its citizens first."
In an MSNBC interview the following month, Galvez Turros reaffirmed her support for Trump in light of the revelation of the 2005 video where he was caught on the hot mic bragging about kissing, groping, and trying to have sex with women. ("When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy," he said.)
A self-described local "activist," Galvez Turros has more recently used her social media platform to blast the city's recent leadership — specifically, Carollo, whom she's called out for alleged public corruption and dubbed a "selfish crook," among other things.
In the press release announcing her campaign, Galvez Turros appears to take credit for exposing a scheme involving former city attorney Victoria Mendez and her family regarding the state's guardianship program and the homes of vulnerable seniors (Mendez, who was ultimately fired, and her husband were accused of exploiting the system to buy properties at below-market prices).
However, as de Valle notes, WLRN reporters Joshua Ceballos and Daniel Rivero's award-winning investigation appears to have uncovered Mendez's plot — not Galvez Turros.
