After Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava cruised to re-election in August, her campaign team wasted no time in hinting that she may have her sights set on higher office.
“When she travels all over the state, she is regarded as the top Democrat everybody is looking at. And last night’s results confirmed that,” Christian Ulvert, Levine Cava’s political advisor, said during a press conference the day after her victory. “Democrats are talking about, ‘What’s our future?’ And the future rests not only with mayors, but women mayors.”
Speculation has centered around the possibility that Levine Cava may make a bid for governor in 2026 when Ron DeSantis, a Republican, is forced to leave the Governor’s Mansion under term limits.
While Levine Cava has not confirmed any interest in statewide office, Caplin News spoke to a number of political experts about the challenges she would face if she decides to run. Observers note that the popular Levine Cava has a solid record to campaign on with her focuses on job creation, affordability and climate change, among other issues, but say it will take more than that to succeed DeSantis.
Name recognition
A major issue facing Levine Cava is that she’s not well known outside of South Florida.
“It’s going to be difficult for Democrats to win. It’s particularly going to be difficult if it’s not somebody that has broad based name recognition already in the state of Florida,” said Michael Binder, the faculty director of the Public Opinion Research Lab at the University of North Florida.
“Somebody like Levine Cava, who may be well known in Miami but not in the rest of the state, has to spend a gigantic sum of money just to get name recognition,” he added.
Gregory Koger, the director of the George P. Hanley Democracy Center at the University of Miami, said Levine Cava needed to be strategic about finding ways to increase her visibility throughout the state.
“She needs a level of media savvy. Maybe selectively pick fights with Governor DeSantis or highlight issues that have been ignored,” Koger said. “It’s possible that there will be a measure on the [statewide] ballot in 2026 to have the state accept federal funding to expand Medicaid. She could latch on to that as a statewide issue.”
The Latino vote
As of Aug. 31, the total number of registered voters in Florida is 13.6 million. Nearly 3.3 million of those voters are Latino, or roughly 1 in 4, according to a research study done by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute.
University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett said Levine Cava, who represents a county that is 70% Hispanic and sprinkles her speeches with Spanish, is well positioned with that demographic but will need to do more.
“If Democrats actually want to be competitive in the governor’s race in two years, they have to make inroads with Hispanics in South Florida,” Jewett said. “So many of those Hispanics seem to have abandoned the Democratic Party for the Republican [Party]. And she may be uniquely qualified to lead that effort to get Hispanic voters going to the Democratic Party, at least for one election.”
GOP registration advantage
Florida hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in 30 years. Lawton Chiles, who won re-election in 1994 and died in office four years later, was the last.
And since then Republicans have grown to vastly outnumber Democrats, turning the once-purple state red. There are now one million more Republicans registered as voters in Florida than Democrats.
She added, “Whoever’s considering running for governor as a Democrat [should] think in terms of registration, turnout and then the barriers and [stopping] the suppression tactics that are happening.”
In trying to boost Democratic turnout, Barry University political science professor Sean Foreman said Levine Cava would have to navigate the split in the Democratic party over the war in Gaza and Israel.
“There is a split between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian,” Foreman said. “There’s a split on policy towards Israel. I think that could possibly trip her up in Florida. Her opponents will try to use that as a way to bring division and negativity to her campaign, even though the war in Gaza isn’t directly an issue for Florida in the governor’s race. The issue would be how she handles her Jewish identity and divisions in the Democratic Party over Palestine.”
The competition
Levine Cava’s not the only elected official who may be eyeing the open governor’s job in two years.
On the Democratic side, Miami-Dade County Democratic Party chair and state Sen. Shevrin Jones, state Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried, state Rep. Fentrice Driskell, who represents part of the Tampa Bay area, and Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who represents parts of Broward County and southern Palm Beach County, are frequently mentioned as possible contenders.
“What Democrat can win that?” Moskowitz, who was the director of Florida’s Emergency Management Agency under DeSantis, told Politico when asked about his potential candidacy. “Maybe a Democrat who worked for a Republican can win that.”
For his part, Jones, who has not ruled out a run for governor, had nothing but praise for Levine Cava.
On the Republican side, among those being mentioned as possible gubernatorial candidates are Attorney General Ashley Moody, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Sen. Marco Rubio, former Speaker of the Florida House Richard Corcoran, City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has insisted he’s not running.
To date, there has been no statewide public polling on the Florida governor’s race that includes Levine Cava.
Caplin News reached out for comment to Levine Cava and her political consultant, Ulvert, but did not receive a response.
