Race for Miami-Dade sheriff heats up, turns into allegations against mayor

MIAMI : After thanking the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) for endorsing her campaign as Miami-Dade County sheriff , Republican candidate Rosie Cordero-Stutz claimed the position she is running for will have less funds for the Sheriff's Office.

"From a 30% budget cut of the overall county budget down to 19%, that is very, very drastic," said Cordero-Stutz, who has 28 years of experience as a police officer. She won the Republican primaries last week and was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

"In my commonsense world, that is another word for saying 'defund the police'."

CBS News Miami researched the Miami-Dade County budget in the Public Safety for 2023-2024 section. It showed a budget amount equivalent to 30% of the budget. On the next column for 2024–25, the figure shows 19%.

We went to James Reyes, the Democratic candidate endorsed by Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava , and asked him about the allegations.

"The answer is no. There are no cuts to public safety in Miami-Dade County," said Reyes.

Daniella Levine Cava's office said the additional money for the sheriff's office is actually in a new line on the budget called Constitutional Office.

Levine Cava sent CBS News Miami a statement saying:

"The total public safety budget is not being cut or diminished in any way in this year's proposed budget. The creation of the new constitutional offices, including the Sheriff's Office, represents an unprecedented transformation of county government, and funding for law enforcement will move from the Miami-Dade County Police Department budget to the new sheriff's office budget. Public safety remains a top priority for me and my administration; that's why we worked hard to create a budget that maintains the current level of public safety services for our community with no cuts to ensure seamless continuity for residents."

Meanwhile, Cordero-Stutz acknowledges her endorsement but says she believes her track record as a police officer speaks for itself.

"You can then contact her to say, Do you know who she is as a police officer? That is the basic concept when someone endorses you. But that is not the translation on the other side," said Cordero-Stutz.

Reyes responded by saying, "You are talking about someone who only knows a police department and has zero familiarity with how a sheriff's office runs. I am the only candidate who has executive leadership experience in the sheriff's office."

On November 5th, Miami-Dade voters will choose who will be the first county sheriff in almost 60 years.