2 Council seats, Vice Mayor title at stake in Homestead election

Homestead begins early voting^[1] for its Nov. 4 election on Thursday. Two Council seats and the vice mayoralty are on the ballot.

So are four referendums affecting City Hall operations and bonding.

For Council Seat 1, incumbent Tom Davis hopes to repel a challenge from Realtor Kim Konsky.

For Council Seat 5, incumbent Erica Ávila faces Sonia Castro, a physical therapy pro.

Additionally, Davis is competing against fellow Council member Jenifer Bailey for the right to replace term-limited Councilman Sean Fletcher as Vice Mayor.

The winners next month will each earn a four-year term.

Homestead is Miami-Dade’s second-oldest incorporated municipality behind Miami. The city has an estimated 81,672 people living within its 15-square-mile bounds. Seventy-eight percent of its residents identify as Hispanic, while 10% are Black and 7% are non-Hispanic White.

The median income among the city’s 26,900 households is $71,900, with approximately 14% of the population living below the poverty line.

Of 30,215 registered voters^[2] in Homestead as of Oct. 2, 10,239 are Democrats, 9,688 have no party affiliation, 9,308 are Republican and 980 belong to a third party.

The city’s elections are nonpartisan, though party politics often influence races.

Voter turnout is historically low. In Homestead’s last General Election in 2023, less than 9%^[3] of the city’s 35,610 registered voters at the time cast ballots.

City Council, Seat 1

District 1 covers the northwest area of Homestead, between Southwest 195th Avenue on the west, 288th Street on the north, 152nd Avenue on the east and 312th Street (Campbell Drive) on the south.

Davis, a 64-year-old private school teacher and veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, is seeking re-election after winning a two-year stint on the seven-member Council in a 2023 Special Election^[4].

He’s running on a record of conservative policymaking^[5] that included, among other things, voting to impose a moratorium on high-density residential development, supporting the creation of a dedicated funding stream to enhance parks and roads, and passing legislation to give the city’s code compliance officials more discretion in citing illegal dwellings.

If re-elected, he promises to continue opposing “overdevelopment and high-density residential projects that increase traffic,” increase funding for public safety, promote job creation by attracting new businesses to Homestead and improve the city’s parks.

He carries an endorsement from Mayor Steve Losner, a fellow Republican.

Konsky, a 53-year-old Republican, is a former agriculture insurance agent who now works in real estate.

Her campaign website^[6] says she’s a lifelong Homestead resident, having grown up in a farming household, and boasts community involvements including membership to the Homestead Women’s Club and Redland District Lions Club. She’s also volunteered with the Homestead Rodeo, Rotary Seafood Festival and Kiwanis Prayer Breakfast.

Konsky’s No. 1 issue is traffic. She vows, if voters choose her next month, to work with state and local officials to address local roadway congestion. Other priorities include appropriately taxing developers, hiring more police officers, working with state officials to eliminate property taxes^[7] and improve the city’s cleanliness.

Through mid-October, Davis reported raising about $30,400 and spending a little less than half that sum, with sizable contributions coming from corporate and political interests.

Konsky collected $10,800 by Oct. 17, mostly through personal checks from Homestead residents. She also spent about $8,000.

City Council, Seat 5

Homestead’s fifth district^[8] covers a triangular section of the city’s northeastern corner, rising from Campbell Drive, that includes the city’s Waterstone and Malibu Bay communities.

Ávila, a registered Republican and Homestead resident since 2009, has represented District 5 since her appointment to the Council in 2020. She won a full, four-year term the following year.

When not at City Hall, Avila, 41, works as a home mortgage loan originator. While in her government role, she says^[9] she blocked high-density developments in the city, worked to complete Homestead’s first traffic master plan, attracted new restaurants and always voted for a balanced budget that didn’t increase the tax rate.

She also touts several bread-and-butter political accomplishments, from expanding the city’s police force and establishing a childhood literacy program to advocating for filling potholes and restoring missing street signs.

If elected to another term, she said she’ll do even more to fix Homestead’s traffic issues, create more jobs, hire more police, work to reduce property taxes, update the city’s code enforcement, and cut government waste and red tape.

She reported raising nearly $43,000 through her campaign account through a blend of personal, corporate and political contributions, and spending about $30,000 by mid-October.

Her opponent, Castro, has lived in Homestead for more than two decades and spent a significant chunk of that time involved on the Waterstone Community Development District Board^[10] and as President of her homeowners’ association.

Her campaign site^[11] says she’s running to stop “reckless overdevelopment,” lower taxes and fees for residents and work with Losner to “cut wasteful spending at City Hall.”

Castro, who has no party affiliation, reported raising $10,250 through her campaign account and spending about $8,600. Losner is among her contributors.

Vice Mayor

Alongside his re-election campaign, Davis also hopes to outpace Bailey, a 46-year-old preschool operator with no party affiliation, in the race for Vice Mayor.

Bailey first won a seat on the City Council in 2017.

As is the case with many other local governments, the Vice Mayor serves as acting Mayor^[12] — complete with all the office’s powers, authorities and responsibilities — when the Mayor is absent or incapable of performing his or her duties.

If Davis wins but loses his re-election bid, the Council will choose another Vice Mayor from its ranks.

The City Clerk’s Office told Florida Politics that in such cases, the nod typically goes to whoever received the most votes in the election.

Referendums

Voters will also answer four ballot questions^[13] on term limits, vacancies and bonding.

They include:

— Referendum 1: Would extend the Mayor’s consecutive term limits from eight to 12 years, aligning it with limits already applied to City Council members (12 consecutive years or a combined 12 years in either office).

— Referendum 2: Would change how vacant City Council seats are filled when at least one year remains in a term. Instead of electing whomever receives the most votes in a Special Election, a runoff election would be held between the top two candidates if no one wins a majority.

— Referendum 3: Would authorize the city to issue up to $36.4 million in general obligation bonds, repaid through property taxes, to build and improve city parks, with bonds maturing in no more than 30 years.

— Referendum 4: Allows the city to issue up to $39.6 million in general obligation bonds to fund roadway construction and improvements, also repaid through property taxes and capped at a 30-year maturity.