Draft:Raquel Regalado
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Submission declined on 9 February 2026 by OrangeWaylon (talk). This draft's references do not show that the person meets Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion for people. The draft requires multiple published secondary sources that:
Declined by OrangeWaylon 5 months ago.
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This draft's references do not show that the person meets Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion for people. The draft requires multiple published secondary sources that:
Declined by Bearcat 6 months ago.
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Comment: County commission is not a level of office that confers an automatic free pass over WP:NPOL, but this is not properly referenced well enough to establish her notability.
County commissioners have to clear NPOL #2, not NPOL #1, which means they don't automatically get articles just for existing as county commissioners -- they have to show a substantial volume of WP:GNG-worthy coverage to establish a reason why they should be seen as special cases of greater notability than most other county commissioners, but neither the content nor the sourcing here is showing that. Bearcat (talk) 04:04, 5 February 2026 (UTC)
Raquel A. Regalado | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Miami-Dade County Commission from District 7 | |
| Assumed office November 17, 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Xavier Suarez |
| Member of the Miami-Dade County School Board from District 6 | |
| In office 2010–2016 | |
| Personal details | |
| Party | Republican |
| Parent | Tomás Regalado (father) |
| Education | Florida International University (BA) St. Thomas University (JD) |
Raquel A. Regalado is an American attorney, broadcaster, and politician who has represented District 7 on the Miami-Dade County Commission since 2020. She previously served on the Miami-Dade County School Board from 2010 to 2016 and was the runner-up in the 2016 Miami-Dade County mayoral election.[1][2]
Early life, education, and broadcasting
[edit]Regalado grew up in Miami in a family of Spanish-language journalists. Her father, Tomás Regalado, later served as mayor of Miami, and her mother, Raquel Ferreiro Regalado, hosted radio programs in South Florida. Regalado became involved in radio as a child and later hosted the weekday Spanish-language program Las Dos Caras de la Noticia and the weekly television program Esta Semana con Raquel.[3]
She earned a bachelor's degree from Florida International University and a Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University School of Law. She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2002.[1][4]
Political career
[edit]School board and countywide campaigns
[edit]Regalado was elected to the Miami-Dade County School Board in 2010, receiving nearly 60 percent of the vote in a five-candidate race.[3] Her interest in school policy was shaped in part by her experience seeking educational services for a child with autism. In 2011, during a StateImpact Florida investigation of charter-school enrollment of students with disabilities, Regalado publicly described a charter school's refusal to continue enrolling her child after the diagnosis.[5] On the board, she advocated for programs for autistic students and for a policy governing social-media contact between school employees and students.[3]
In 2014, Regalado became a prominent opponent of a proposed $393 million bond for a new county courthouse. The measure was rejected by voters, and the campaign raised her profile in county politics.[3] In 2015, she joined businessman Norman Braman in a lawsuit challenging a proposed $9 million county grant for the SkyRise Miami observation-tower project. Because the City of Miami was also a defendant, the suit placed her in opposition to the city government led by her father. The developer dropped its request for the county grant in 2016 while the legal challenge was pending.[6][7]
Regalado challenged incumbent mayor Carlos A. Giménez in 2016. She advanced to the runoff and received 44 percent of the vote.[2] In 2017, she announced a campaign for the Republican nomination in Florida's 27th congressional district but withdrew before the primary.[8][9]
County commission
[edit]Regalado was elected to the Miami-Dade County Commission in 2020, defeating former Pinecrest mayor Cindy Lerner by 1,301 votes. She was re-elected in a 2024 rematch.[10][11] The office is officially nonpartisan; Regalado is a Republican.[10]
In 2022, Regalado cast the deciding vote to expand Miami-Dade's Urban Development Boundary for a warehouse project. Environmental groups and Lerner criticized the decision. Regalado said she supported the change after negotiating requirements that the developers contribute land to the county's conservation program.[10]
Regalado has also sponsored county measures intended to reduce the number of septic systems and speed connections to sanitary sewers. A 2024 Washington Post investigation of the threat that rising groundwater poses to septic systems described her role in a moratorium on new septic systems on county-owned property, connection requirements near sewer lines, and updated standards for replacement systems.[12]
Regalado has served on the governing board of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which operates Tri-Rail. She chaired the board from 2022 to 2024 and was elected chair again in July 2026.[13] During her board service, Tri-Rail opened service to MiamiCentral in downtown Miami.[14]
References
[edit]- 1 2 "About Commissioner Raquel A. Regalado". Miami-Dade County. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- 1 2 Padgett, Tim (November 9, 2016). "Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez Soundly Wins Another Four Years". WLRN. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 Bach, Trevor (January 27, 2015). "Raquel Regalado Took On the Establishment; Now She Wants to Run It". Miami New Times. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ "Raquel A. Regalado – Member Profile". The Florida Bar. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ Gonzalez, Sarah (December 23, 2011). "School Board Member Says Her Special Needs Daughter Was Forced To Leave A Charter School". WLRN. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ Munzenrieder, Kyle (February 5, 2015). "Raquel Regalado and Norman Braman Join Forces to Block Skyrise Miami, Create Political Intrigue". Miami New Times. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ Hanks, Douglas (April 6, 2016). "SkyRise Miami drops pursuit of $9 million from Miami-Dade amid legal challenge". Miami Herald. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ Garcia, Eric (May 24, 2017). "'Compassionate Republican' Announces Run for Ros-Lehtinen's Seat". Roll Call. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ "Raquel Regalado". Ballotpedia. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Hanks, Douglas (August 1, 2024). "Raquel Regalado faces a rematch in a Miami county district, this time with a record". Miami Herald. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ Hanks, Douglas (November 5, 2024). "Raquel Regalado wins second term on Miami-Dade County Commission, beats Cindy Lerner". Miami Herald. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ Dennis, Brady; Crowe, Kevin; Muyskens, John (May 22, 2024). "A hidden threat: Fast-rising seas could swamp septic systems in parts of the South". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ "Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado Elected Chair of the SFRTA Governing Board". South Florida Regional Transportation Authority. July 1, 2026. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
- ↑ Brutus, Wilkine (January 12, 2024). "Tri-Rail expands to connect thousands of South Florida passengers to downtown Miami". WLRN. Retrieved July 24, 2026.
Category:Living people Category:Miami-Dade County Commissioners Category:Florida Republicans Category:Florida International University alumni Category:St. Thomas University (Florida) alumni Category:21st-century American women politicians
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