Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason, a retired U.S. diplomat, cruised to a second term by a 71% to 29% margin Tuesday, April 9, over longtime City Commissioner Ralph Cabrera.
Political newcomers Vince Lago and Pat Keon were also winners in the city’s biennial election, which generated more than $800,000 in campaign donations and loans.
In the mayor’s race, Cason, 68, whose last Foreign Services post was as head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, collected 4,988 votes to turn back a challenge from Cabrera, 54, who picked up 2,057 votes.
“The people of Coral Gables want a mayor that works well with the commission, that puts Coral Gables first,” Mayor Cason said at his victory celebration at the Coral Gables Woman’s Club. “They want a financially stronger city that reinvests in its infrastructure. They want a downtown that you would expect in a city like Coral Gables. Tonight is an overwhelming endorsement of this vision with an overall 70 percent vote in every precinct.”
Cabrera was elected to his seat in 2001 but was term-limited; winning his Group 2 seat was Lago, 35, a project executive with BDI Construction & Design, which primarily designs and builds schools, with 53 percent (3,566 votes).
Finishing second in the three-way race was Marlin Ebbert, 65, a retired teacher and longtime civic and arts volunteer, with 31 percent (2,116 votes), followed by Ross Hancock, 58, communications director for the nonprofit American Welding Society, at 16 percent (1,081 votes).
In the five-person contest to succeed term-limited Commissioner Maria Anderson in Group 3, Keon, 64, a retired nurse, won with 49 percent (3,290 votes). Mary Young, 55, director of the University of Miami’s School of Business Administration’s Ziff Graduate Career Services Center, finished second with 36 percent (2,439 votes).
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