Key West mayor election bursting at the seams

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

You could fill a newspaper with the number of people who are only rumored to be considering running for Key West mayor this year. There are at least four undeclared potential candidates on top of the nine who have already announced their campaigns.

And there could be more candidates waiting in the wings for the seat being vacated by Craig Cates in November, forced out because of term limits. At a Feb. 26 campaign kick-off event for Mary Lou Hoover, who is running for the District 5 city commission seat being vacated by Commissioner Margaret Romero – who has announced although not yet filed official papers for her mayoral run – potential candidates hovered both outside Salute restaurant, where Hoover’s event was held, or, more loquaciously, inside at the bar.

Randy Becker, who ran against Mayor Cates in 2016 and came in second with 32 percent of the vote, was conversation-hopping at Salute with a discreet “Randy Becker for Mayor” pin on his chest. Becker, who recently participated in an anti-death penalty vigil on a corner across from the Green Parrot Bar, said he has “most of” his campaign team in place and will file papers to run for mayor in the next week. He already has his campaign slogan figured out, “For the People – For the Future” and a campaign website, randybeckerformayor.com.

Former City Commissioner Mark Rossi was also at Hoover’s event, another rumored dark horse candidate for the burgeoning mayor’s race. When asked directly, Rossi was unequivocal: yes, he is seriously considering running.

“I have a vision for the city,” he said in response to the question, why run? “You’ll be surprised how simple my vision is.”

A second former city commissioner is quietly putting a campaign team together but has not formally announced. And current Commissioner Clayton Lopez, who represents District 6, is also looking at the whole electoral enchilada. At this moment, he said by telephone, “definitely no.” But looking down the road to May 21, the deadline for all candidates, including those running for the three city commission seats that are up for election in November, Lopez wasn’t so definite.

“I’ve been on both sides of the discussion,” he said. “Oh, my God, I don’t want to touch that with all the people running. On the other hand, nobody else has my skills. Nobody I see running brings what I can to the table.”

The nine people who have formally declared their candidacy for mayor are Rick Brown, Bill Foley, Robert Goodreau, Danny Hughes, Mitchell Jones, Kate Miano, Darrin Smith, Mark Songer, and Margaret Romero. Two other early candidates, David Bethune and Wayne Coulter, have withdrawn from the race.

Romero has announced her campaign but did not file papers yet, possibly waiting to see the full mayoral candidate roster. If it looks too competitively dicey, she could always withdraw and run for reelection to her seat in District 5, the one Hoover is now actively campaigning for, believing Romero out of that race.

The primary is set for Aug. 28. If one candidate receives 50 percent plus one vote of the city’s 25,000-odd registered voters, they win outright. If not, the top two vote receivers will advance to the general election on Nov. 6.

The three Key West commission seats up for election this year are in District 5, currently held by Romero, District 4, currently held by Richard Payne, and District 2, where Sam Kaufman is finishing his first term. Payne has said he is not going to run for reelection. Gregory Davila is the only candidate to date to file to run for Payne’s seat.  

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]