Fernando Godo
Fernando Godo ran for election for Mayor of Hialeah in Florida. He lost in the primary on November 2, 2021.
Godo completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Godo ran for election to the Hialeah City Council to represent Group II in Florida. He lost in the primary on November 5, 2019.
Biography
Fernando Godo was born in Havana. He graduated from the University of Havana in 1994.[1]
2021 battleground election
Esteban Bovo Jr. defeated Isis Garcia-Martinez, Fernando Godo, Julio Martinez, and Juan Santana in a nonpartisan primary election for mayor of Hialeah, Florida, on November 2, 2021. Bovo received 59 percent of the vote, meaning he won the primary outright. If no candidate had received a majority of the votes, the top-two candidates would have competed in a general election on November 16, 2021.
Media attention focused on Bovo and Garcia-Martinez, who also led in fundraising.[2][3][4] After winning a seat on the Hialeah City Council in 1998, Bovo was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2008 in District 110 and served on the Miami-Dade county commission from 2011 to 2020. Bovo ran for mayor of Miami-Dade County, Florida, in 2020, coming in first in the primary but losing the general election. Garcia-Martinez served on the Hialeah City Council from 1991 to 1997 and again from 2007 to 2019.[5]
Infrastructure, traffic, pandemic response measures, and housing and utility costs were major issues in the race.[6] The Miami Herald's Aaron Leibowitz wrote, "The front-runners, Bovo and Isis Garcia-Martinez, have to distinguish themselves: They’re both conservatives, both of Cuban descent, and both staples on the Hialeah political scene...On key issues, Bovo and Garcia-Martinez have similar platforms: keep taxes low, promote new development, support small businesses, address high water rates, and work to keep and attract young people to the majority-Cuban, working class city."[7]
Bovo and Garcia-Martinez disagreed on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R) approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bovo agreed with DeSantis on a rule issued by Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo that prevented school districts from enforcing mask mandates and making quarantine decisions, saying “I’m not in favor of mandates on anything." Garcia-Martinez did not explicitly support mask mandates, but said DeSantis should do more to encourage mask wearing. "I’ve always been a Republican, but I totally disagree with this governor,” she said. “We don’t want to just mandate something, but the reality is, you don’t want to lose families to this virus."[8] Click here to read more about the candidates' platforms.
Bovo and Garcia-Martinez criticized each other's records in campaign materials. A mailer from Garcia-Martinez's campaign said Hialeah “deserves better than a career politician like Bovo,” while Bovo's campaign distributed mailers saying the city “can’t trust Isis to run Hialeah’s finances” because of her votes on taxes during her time as a city council member.[9]
Although the elections for and position of the mayor are officially nonpartisan, the candidates running are affiliated with political parties. Both Bovo and Garcia-Martinez are affiliated with the Republican Party.[10][11]
The mayor serves as the city's chief executive officer and is responsible for proposing a budget, signing legislation into law, appointing departmental directors, and overseeing the city's day-to-day operations. The mayor also represents the city on the state, national and international levels. The incumbent Mayor Carlos Hernandez was term-limited.
Elections
2021
See also: Mayoral election in Hialeah, Florida (2021)
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Hialeah
Esteban Bovo Jr. won election outright against Isis Garcia-Martinez, Fernando Godo, Julio Martinez, and Juan Santana in the primary for Mayor of Hialeah on November 2, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Esteban Bovo Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 58.9 | 13,060 |
 | Isis Garcia-Martinez (Nonpartisan) | 21.6 | 4,787 | |
 | Fernando Godo (Nonpartisan)  | 16.4 | 3,642 | |
 | Julio Martinez (Nonpartisan) | 1.9 | 423 | |
 | Juan Santana (Nonpartisan) | 1.1 | 243 | |
| Total votes: 22,155 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
The following campaign finance information was last updated on October 27, 2021, and does not include candidates who dropped out of the race or did not file reports.
Noteworthy endorsements
This section lists noteworthy endorsements issued in this election, including those made by high-profile individuals and organizations, cross-party endorsements, and endorsements made by newspaper editorial boards. It also includes a bulleted list of links to official lists of endorsements for any candidates who published that information on their campaign websites. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. If you are aware of endorsements that should be included, please click here.
| Noteworthy endorsements | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endorsement | Bovo | Garcia-Martinez | Godo | Martinez | Santana | |
| Elected officials | ||||||
| U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R)[12] | ✔ | |||||
| Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)[13] | ✔ | |||||
| State Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. (R)[14] | ✔ | |||||
| State Rep. Tom Fabricio (R)[15] | ✔ | |||||
| Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez (R)[16] | ✔ | |||||
| State Rep. Alex Rizo (R)[17] | ✔ | |||||
| U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R)[18] | ✔ | |||||
| Individuals | ||||||
| Former FL House Speaker José Oliva (R)[19] | ✔ | |||||
| Former Mayor Julio Robaina[20] | ✔ | |||||
| Former President Donald Trump (R)[21] | ✔ | |||||
| Organizations | ||||||
| Fraternal Order of Police[22] | ✔ | |||||
| Police Benevolent Association (PBA)[23] | ✔ | |||||
| Veterans for America First[24] | ✔ | |||||
2019
See also: City elections in Hialeah, Florida (2019)
General election
General election for Hialeah City Council Group II
Jesús Tundidor defeated Luis Gonzalez in the general election for Hialeah City Council Group II on November 19, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Jesús Tundidor (Nonpartisan) | 64.6 | 6,795 | |
 | Luis Gonzalez (Nonpartisan) | 35.4 | 3,729 | |
| Total votes: 10,524 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Hialeah City Council Group II
Jesús Tundidor and Luis Gonzalez defeated Fernando Godo, Angelica Pacheco, and Salvador Blanco in the primary for Hialeah City Council Group II on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Jesús Tundidor (Nonpartisan) | 32.0 | 4,019 | |
| ✔ | | Luis Gonzalez (Nonpartisan) | 28.1 | 3,528 |
| Fernando Godo (Nonpartisan) | 15.8 | 1,990 | |
 | Angelica Pacheco (Nonpartisan) | 15.2 | 1,910 | |
| Salvador Blanco (Nonpartisan) | 8.9 | 1,120 | ||
| Total votes: 12,567 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2021
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Fernando Godo completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Godo's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Fernando was born in Marianao, Havana, Cuba. He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Havana.
An avid chess player, he was a two-time gold medalist (individual and team) in the Cuban chess championship and subsequently chess coach for Havana’s Youth Team.
In 2013, he co-founded 1% Magazine, an English and Spanish language publication that specializes in American economic and constitutional issues.
He served as Florida Spokesperson for Senator Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign.
Fernando is a regular guest on various radio and television talk shows where he provides analysis and commentary on a wide range of topics. His daily show “A Tranca Limpia” airs at 9 pm on YouTube (Fernando Godo 1%).
Fernando is also an accomplished author, having published several books and articles. His most recently published books include Celos de copos de nieve and Horas Contigo.- Eliminate unnecessary inspectors and business regulations
- Improve the transportation system, garbage collection, and basic services
- Eliminate property taxes for owners over 65
Capitalism means private property and free markets without government intervention. Public policy has strayed from these concepts as ordained by the Founding Fathers of the United States. I advocate for policies that ensure a free market and protection of rights and private property.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Godo’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Platform
|
” |
| —Fernando Godo's campaign website (2021)[26] | ||
2019
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Fernando Godo did not complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2021 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 30, 2021
- ↑ Miami Herald, "Hialeah mayoral, city council race kicks off as deadline to qualify for the ballot passes," July 27, 2021
- ↑ Florida Politics, "Steve Bovo Jr. officially running for Hialeah Mayor," July 7, 2021
- ↑ CBS Miami, "Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo Officially Running For Mayor Of Hialeah," July 8, 2021
- ↑ Miami Herald, "In ‘civil war’ for Hialeah mayor’s seat, familiar faces battle over a powerful job," September 29, 2021
- ↑ South Florida Media Network, "Hialeah’s future will be in the hands of a new mayor soon," April 9, 2021
- ↑ Miami Herald, "In ‘civil war’ for Hialeah mayor’s seat, familiar faces battle over a powerful job," September 29, 2021
- ↑ Miami Herald, "In ‘civil war’ for Hialeah mayor’s seat, familiar faces battle over a powerful job," September 29, 2021
- ↑ Miami Herald, "In ‘civil war’ for Hialeah mayor’s seat, familiar faces battle over a powerful job," September 29, 2021
- ↑ Florida Politics, "Donald Trump endorses Esteban ‘Steve’ Bovo for Hialeah Mayor," October 8, 2021
- ↑ Cuban Studies Institute, "Esteban L. Bovo, Jr," accessed October 18, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ Miami Herald, "In ‘civil war’ for Hialeah mayor’s seat, familiar faces battle over a powerful job," September 29, 2021
- ↑ Florida Politics, "Donald Trump endorses Esteban ‘Steve’ Bovo for Hialeah Mayor, October 8, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ Steve Bovo, "Endorsements," accessed October 10, 2021
- ↑ [https://veteransforamericafirst.org/endorsements/ Veterans for America First, "Endorsements," accessed October 11, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Fernando Godo, “Platform,” accessed October 10, 2021
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