After decades of community service and government advocacy, nonprofit director Marleine Bastien is headed to County Hall to take the District 2 seat on the Miami-Dade Commission.
Bastien won a runoff race against North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime to succeed longtime Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime.
She took 59% of the 37,430 ballots cast.
Born in a small town 73 miles from the capital of Haiti, Bastien is a social worker whose nonprofit, Family Action Network Movement, has served low-income and working-class families since the 1990s.
In winning Tuesday, she became the first Haitian woman ever elected to the Miami-Dade Commission.
– Jesse Scheckner, Florida Politics