About 300 people gathered at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex on Wednesday to hear from eight candidates vying to succeed Congresswoman Frederica Wilson in District 24.
In attendance were entrepreneur Te Mayonna Brown; Marshall L. Davis, director of cultural arts; Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert; State Senator Shevrin Jones; attorney and late Congressman Carrie Meek’s grandson, Kendrick Meek Jr.; former county commissioner Jean Monestime; doctor Rudy Moise; and attorney Roderick Vereen.
The forum was hosted by the Miami Herald, MIA Media Group, NBC 6 and WLRN. View the full forum here.
Here are the key takeaways from Wednesday night’s debate:
Immigration and temporary protected status were hot topics
Weeks after a Supreme Court ruling effectively revoked temporary protected status for at least 300,000 Haitians, immigration took on increased prominence at the forum. One candidate, the only Republican on the stage, criticized the H-1B visa program, saying it steals jobs from American citizens.
“Every H-1B visa robs an American citizen of a job and a career because of cheap foreign labor,” Brown said during the forum. “We need to commit to this so we can ensure that every one of our American citizens has a job.”
Carl Juste/cjuste@miamiherald
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Miami Herald
Candidate and entrepreneur Te Mayonna Brown answers her question during the debate.
Brown’s comments were met with curt responses from the standing-room-only crowd and from Gilbert, who hit back at Brown’s claim. “I’m not going to sit here while we blame immigrants for people not having jobs. I think that’s very dangerous,” Gilbert said. “This pits worker against worker in this district, and we can’t do that.”
Located at the heart of the Haitian community, the Little Haiti Cultural Complex hosted a rally last week in support of TPS holders and the passage of Senate Bill 4818, which would extend TPS for Haitians through January 2029. TPS was set to expire for Haitians on Friday due to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, but a recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling pushed back the deadline to July 27.
While most agreed with a solution to expand TPS and said they would support SB 4814, only one person, Gilbert, said the U.S. should also invest in Haiti. “We have to invest in infrastructure. We have to invest in security. We have to invest so that Haitians actually want to participate in the redevelopment of Haiti,” he said.
Criticism of the Trump administration
Many of the candidates criticized the Trump administration’s handling of immigration enforcement and the treatment of immigrants in detention centers. Overall, the candidates called for reform of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Meek suggested he would support abolishing ICE, and Jones called for closing all immigration detention centers, similar to what happened at Alligator Alcatraz.
Meek said his father recently confronted an ICE agent when he approached a man who was helping another person. “This is what we see on our streets. This is what we see in our communities,” he said.
Gilbert took his criticism of the president one step further: “We need a new president.”
Brown responded: “We have to respect the president,” she said. “That’s what we need to do. If we’re Christians, we know the Bible tells us to pray for leaders.”
Super PAC donations are coming
Gilbert, Jones and Meek — who were sitting next to each other — threw punches at each other over campaign contributions. Meek, without naming names, criticized both Jones and Gilbert for donations they received from CDR and The Geo Group, companies that have made money from immigration enforcement in Florida.
Carl Juste/cjuste@miamiherald
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Miami Herald
Candidate and State Senator Shevrin Jones (right) answers a question during the debate.
A Miami Herald analysis found that CDR, a contractor that provided services to the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center in the Everglades, donated $105,000 to Miami-Dade County government incumbents, the majority of which went to Gilbert’s Common Voices PAC. CDR also supported Jones’ campaign when he first ran for Senate in 2020, with a $2,500 donation to his PAC Florida Strong Finish and another $5,000 donation in 2021.
Meek also criticized Jones for receiving campaign funds from Boca Raton-based private and public prison operator The Geo Group, which is also an ICE contractor. In 2019, Jones’ PAC received $5,000 and $2,500 in 2024 and again in 2026. A spokesman for Jones’ campaign said he returned those funds in 2019 and plans to return the 2024 and 2026 funds. (In an interview with Uncle Luke, who is running in the District 20 race, Gilbert disputed this claim.)
Jones and Gilbert focused on their political experiences, with Jones noting that he served in both the Florida House and Senate, following in the footsteps of District 24’s Frederica Wilson, Carrie Meek and Kendrick Meek.
“I am the only person up here with the legislative experience who will go to Washington, D.C., and keep the promise that I told you before,” Jones said. “I ask you to believe my receipts that I brought back to you.”
Gilbert praised his experience building Miami Gardens as mayor and attracting businesses to the city, as well as his support from Wilson.
“The best indicator of what someone will do is what they have done,” he said. “I worked. I brought home results. She trusts me to get it done. I hope you will too.”
https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2026-07-23/tps-trump-and-pac-money-key-takeaways-from-district-24-debate
