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Republican faces tough race in Miami's heavily Haitian District 108th for State House seat

A former Miami Shores councilman has squared off against a popular teacher-turned-businessman for Northeast Miami's heavily Haitian District 108.

Prospero Herrera II is nothing if not persistent. He unsuccessfully ran three times for a seat on the Miami Shores Village Council. On his fourth try, in 2001, he finally emerged victorious. Such dogged determination comes in handy for Herrera's current challenge: getting elected as a Republican to the Florida House of Representatives' District 108.

The district begins in northeast Miami, then heads north along the Biscayne Boulevard corridor through El Portal, Miami Shores, and North Miami. Democrats outnumber Republicans roughly 4-1 in this black, heavily Haitian-American district.

HERRERA A REPUBLICAN

Herrera, born in New York of Honduran and West Indian parents, moved to Miami at age 9 and boasts more than three decades of civic involvement in entities that include code enforcement boards and anticrime task forces. He says his community roots are helping to woo Democrats to his side.

''They know my name, so they listen -- I have a lot of Democrats on my team,'' Herrera said.

Herrera's Democratic opponent, Ronald Brisé, boasts the larger campaign bank account, endorsements from well-known figures -- including the former representative for that district, Phillip Brutus -- and an ease with voters demonstrated during a Wednesday candidates' forum. ''You will be my focus group,'' the Haitian-born Brisé promised voters in North Miami, many of them seniors. Endorsing the concept of a state trust fund to benefit the elderly, Brisé said the fund would help ensure ``that one of our most precious resources, which is you, can be well taken care of.''

Herrera also spoke in favor of the trust fund idea at Wednesday's forum. In fact, although the two men differed on the issue of taxpayer-funded, private-school vouchers -- Herrera supporting them, Brisé opposing them -- they voiced similar positions on other issues, such as property taxes and windstorm insurance.

But Herrera faces obstacles in his campaign that Brisé doesn't: obstacles like 74-year-old voter Rosemary Fisher. Fisher showed up at the forum wearing a T-shirt mocking President George W. Bush.

''I'd rather die than be a Republican or vote for a Republican,'' Fisher said. She came to the forum planning to support Brisé, and left feeling the same way.

Brisé won in a hotly contested five-candidate Democratic primary to make it to the general election, while Herrera was the only Republican to file for the seat. Brisé acknowledges some feel he can't lose on Nov. 7, but he rejects that assumption and says he's campaigning hard.

''We don't want to lose another seat in the state House,'' Brisé said.

GOP CONTROLS HOUSE

Although Brisé enjoys a wealth of Democratic voters in District 108, the ranks of elected Democrats inside the state Capitol are much thinner. Republicans vastly outnumber Democrats in both the House and Senate. Republicans could lose more than a few seats this November and still be firmly in control.

If elected, Brisé said he will be aided in the difficult task of pushing legislation through a Republican-dominated Legislature by Miami-Dade County's strong leadership position. Both the incoming Republican House Speaker, Rep. Marco Rubio, and the incoming House Democratic leader, Rep. Dan Gelber, hail from Miami-Dade.

But Herrera says being a member of the majority party means he'll be more effective in Tallahassee.

''They'll put me on certain committees I need to be on,'' Herrera said. ``I won't have to sit in the back, I'll sit in the front.''