MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has defeated opponent Melba Pearson Tuesday, winning an eighth term in office.
Fernandez Rundle has been Miami-Dade’s state attorney since 1993 and has come under criticism for never charging an on-duty police officer with murder in her 27 years in office.
Fernandez Rundle immediately spoke upon learning of her win: “Representing you in this community has been one of the great honors of my life,” she said.
Votes
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Katherine Fernandez Rundle*(D)
Melba Pearson(D)
(0 / 783)
She made promises for her next four years. “To recommit to being a pioneer in some of the boldest national criminal justice reform in the country,” she said. “... Legislative reform will be a prime focus.”
Fernandez Rundle also said she is recommitting to fighting against human trafficking and gun violence.
Pearson served as an assistant state attorney in Miami-Dade County for 15 years and most recently served as deputy director of the ACLU of Florida.
Prior to Primary Election Day, Pearson told Local 10 News she planned to create a civil rights unit and have designated prosecutors who only work on police misconduct and police shooting cases if she were to be elected Miami-Dade state attorney.
“We ran on the strength of our record,” Fernandez Rundle said. “On our unity and our guiding principles that prosecution is based on the rule of law, not one based on emotion, politics or sending a message.”
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