Friday, August 16, 2024

Underfunded Primary challenger seeks to unseat headline machine Fabián Basabe in HD 106

By Jesse Scheckner on August 16, 2024

Miami Beach Republican Rep. Fabián Basabe has held office for less than two years, but he's squeezed in at least triple that time span's worth of headlines.

Most haven't been positive.

He now faces a lone Primary challenger, lawyer Melinda Almonte, in House District 106.

At first glance, Almonte's is a long shot bid. She has a fraction of Basabe's funding, nowhere near his panache for attention-grabbing and lacks support from the Florida GOP machine, many of whose members are lining up behind the incumbent.

But Basabe's lack of legislative accomplishments and legal troubles have made him more vulnerable than he may otherwise have been, and the Aug. 20 Primary will be the first of two potentially tough hurdles he must surmount before securing a second term.

Basabe, a 46-year-old wealthy socialite, won office in 2022 by just 242 votes, a 0.46-percentage-point margin, to flip the long-blue HD 106 seat red. He ran as a moderate, but his support of a measure to remove a permit requirement for concealed firearms and expand Florida's so-called "Parental Rights in Education" law, which critics called "Don't Say Gay," drew the ire of gun control advocates and the district's large LGBTQ community.

Last year, he successfully sponsored a bill to grant labor pools more ways to provide workers with water while giving the pools additional leniency for compliance violations.

He carried seven bills last Session. None passed.

Basabe maintains that while his legislative record isn't outwardly robust, he still delivered for his district by securing state funding appropriations and working behind the scenes on bills affecting the community.

While he voted to expand "Don't Say Gay" so its strictures encompass all public school grade levels, he said he worked with the measure's sponsors to tweak its language so it prohibits classroom "instruction" on LGBTQ-inclusive topics, not "discussion" of them.

He also cited carve-outs in a sweeping measure easing the demolition and replacement of old, coastal buildings among his wins.

As he did during his 2022 campaign, Basabe began campaigning this cycle with a $250,000 self-loan. But he stepped up efforts in recent months to draw outside dollars, amassing another $94,000 in donations, including contributions from Reps. Kim Berfield, Jennifer Canady, Alina García and Taylor Yarkosky, among others.

Through late July, he spent $57,000 on a variety of outreach efforts, legal and communications consulting fees and general campaign upkeep costs.

Almonte, a lawyer and financial consultant who briefly ran for Congress two years ago, has raised a comparatively paltry $24,300. All but $1,100 came from her bank account.

So far, all her spending on campaign outreach has been on digital ads.

*After decades of working as a lawyer, Melinda Almonte wants to make laws of her own. Image via Melinda Almonte.*

According to her campaign website and interviews she gave local media, Almonte grew up in Florida and worked in New York City until the birth of her twin sons. Difficulties in childbirth due to medical malpractice resulted in both boys suffering injuries that caused physical and learning disabilities, and to better care and provide educational opportunities to them, she said, the family relocated to Miami-Dade two decades ago.

Almonte, 61, said she's since worked "off and on part time over the years, including pro bono work." The Florida Bar admitted her in 2021.

"Now that my sons are adults, I want to do something meaningful to serve others," she said in a statement.

Miami-Dade records show Almonte has owned a three-bedroom home in Golden Beach since 2014, contradicting one report describing her as a "transplant" who lives in Boca Raton and owns a "multi-million dollar mansion."

Many of Almonte and Basabe's campaign priorities overlap. Both value school choice, want to improve K-12 education offerings and initiatives to better protect residents. They also agree HD 106 should build more flood-resilient infrastructure.

Almonte believes Florida can address its insurance crisis by increasing competition in the marketplace. Basabe vows to homeowners by supporting initiatives such as the property-hardening My Safe Florida Home program.

"We have many challenges that have been neglected for far too long," he said in a statement.

Basabe was a controversial figure before he entered Florida politics in a short-lived bid for the Miami Beach City Commission in 2021. He's consistently maintained that unseemly press about him has either been inaccurate, incomplete or untrue.

Since he took office, however, he's been a headline machine, though rarely for the right reasons. He's been the subject of two House complaints in which former employees of his accused him of sexual harassment and battery. Both were dismissed due to a lack of evidence.

The two young men have since sued Basabe over the matter. Court records show the case is still active.

He has also been involved in numerous public spats with Democratic South Florida officials.

*Fabián Basabe has a lot more on his legislative to-do list. Image via Fabián Basabe.*

Some expected the negative attention would inspire Basabe's Republican colleagues to distance themselves from him as the election season ramped up. But in recent months, many have congealed around him. His May campaign launch included a large roster of GOP notables, including House Speaker-designate Daniel Perez.

He's also netted endorsements from House Speaker Paul Renner, Palm Bay Rep. Randy Fine, Hialeah Rep. Alex Rizo, who is Chair of the Miami-Dade GOP, the NRA, Florida Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries of Florida and a handful of first responder unions.

Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. and director Brett Ratner, both subjects of the #MeToo movement, have also shown Basabe support.

"As part of the majority party," Basabe said, "I would have a seat at the table and be much better positioned than my opponent to pass new laws and bring in needed revenue to improve our district."

The opponent Basabe referred to isn't Almonte but former Orlando Democratic Rep. Joe Saunders, who made history in 2012 as one of Florida's first openly gay lawmakers.

Saunders, the Political Director of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida, is the lone Democrat running now in HD 106. But he's not the only Saunders on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot.

Saunders' aunt, Maureen Saunders Scott, will appear beside him and whoever wins the Republican Primary. She is currently listed on the Division of Elections website as "Moe Saunders," a name one letter different from her nephew's, but that is likely to change soon.

Saunders took Scott, a St. Johns County resident, to court this month to remove her from the ballot. The Judge didn't do so, but he agreed she should change her name to something less similar. Scott and Saunders' legal team ultimately agreed on "Mo Saunders Scott."

During the one-day court proceeding, Scott revealed she'd had phone conversations with both Almonte and Basabe, the latter of whom she also interacted with on social media to offer dirt on Saunders.

It is not illegal for a person to run for public office in a district where they do not live, but they must move there by the time they take office. It is illegal, however, to pay someone to run for public office or to receive payment to run.

Scott and Basabe have both denied having any such arrangement.

HD 106 covers several coastal northeast Miami-Dade municipalities, including Aventura, Bal Harbour Village, Bay Harbor islands, Golden Beach, Indian Creek, Miami Beach, North Bay Village, Sunny Isles Beach and Surfside.