Former Dade School Board member Christi Fraga is elected Doral’s mayor
A former Miami-Dade County School Board member will be the next mayor of Doral after winning the runoff election on Tuesday over a current council member.
Christi Fraga beat Claudia Mariaca with almost 55% of the vote, according to unofficial results on the Miami-Dade County supervisor of elections website.
Fraga, the former vice mayor of the city, had resigned from the MiamiDade School Board in November.
“I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity for my community and for their vote of confidence, again, in me. They know the leader that I am and the results I will bring to the community,” Fraga told the Miami Herald. “I’m extremely grateful for them giving our team an opportunity. I will not let them down.”
She will succeed Doral Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez, who was elected to the Miami-Dade County Commission District 12 seat in August. Bermudez endorsed Mariaca in the race.
A resident of Doral for more than 20 years, Fraga was a newcomer to education and was one of the more vocal members on the board, proposing conservative and, at times, controversial issues such as a resolution to celebrate the National Day of Prayer. In 2021, Fraga was the only board member to vote against recognizing October as LGBTQ history month.
She had also proposed, then withdrew, a measure similar to one being considered by the School Board this week to only allow the American flag and the Florida flag to be displayed in classrooms.
Two new council members were also elected — Rafael A. Pineyro and Maureen Porras. Pineyro, a former Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation manager, appeared to win Council Seat 1, beating out Susie Castillo, the director of corporate relations at Florida International University. Pineyro had 51% of the vote, according to unofficial results.
Porras, the director of immigration legal services at Church World Service, won the race for Council Seat 2 with 52% of the vote. She bested Ivette González
Petkovich, an attorney who worked at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
The other council member elected this year was Digna Cabral, who won Council Seat 4 in the Nov. 8 election. Cabral is vice mayor and a clinical research project manager at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.
Doral’s canvassing board will convene at 9 a.m. Friday to certify the results.