Monique Pardo Pope, the daughter of an American serial killer, is one of the candidates in the Miami Beach Commission elections
Monique Pardo Pope, a 44-year-old Republican attorney born into a Cuban-American family in Hialeah, has emerged as an unexpected powerhouse in the runoff for the Group I seat on the Miami Beach Commission.
With 20.15 % of the vote in the November 4, 2025 general election, she outpolled five rivals to face Democrat Monica Matteo-Salinas (23.26 %) in the decisive runoff on Tuesday, December 9.
A runoff election for the Group I City Commissioner seat in the City of Miami Beach will be held between candidates Monica Matteo-Salinas and Monique Pardo Pope on Tuesday, December 9, 2025.
This race, part of a broader slate of local elections that includes the Miami mayoral contest, is not only about affordable housing or public safety; it is about personal redemption and the weight of a criminal legacy that Pardo Pope has fought to leave behind – even as controversies continue to question her judgment and transparency.
Pardo Pope, owner of a family-law practice and a registered Republican, embodies the American Dream that the Republican Party so fiercely defends: the daughter of an immigrant who arrived on a Pedro Pan flight, raised in public schools, educated at the University of Florida and UCLA, and forged a career on Wall Street before returning to Florida to practice law.
As a mother and vice president of the University of Miami Women’s Cancer League, her platform resonates with conservative values: pushing housing for essential workers such as teachers and nurses, supporting small businesses against runaway development, and bolstering public safety with more resources for police and proactive responses to mental health and homelessness.
She has raised more than $105,000 in just two months – largely self-funded – and has earned endorsements from figures such as County Commissioner René García and the Jewish group Teach Florida, which values her commitment to the community.
Yet Pardo Pope’s rise has been overshadowed by the ghost of her father, Manuel Pardo, a former Sweetwater police officer turned serial killer who, between January and April 1986, executed nine people – six men and three women – in what he called a “vigilante mission” against drug dealers. He was captured after using credit cards stolen from his victims.
Sentenced to death in 1990 and executed by lethal injection in 2012 under an order signed by then-Governor Rick Scott, his story even inspired elements of the television character Dexter. Monique was only four years old when the murders occurred – a trauma she describes as the catalyst for her empathy and determination to serve the public.
What has ignited the campaign are now-deleted social media posts by Pardo Pope that went viral in September 2025. In 2013, one year after the execution, she called him “my hero” and “my guiding light in the sky.”
Pardo Pope has since distanced herself: “I was a victim of my father’s actions, diagnosed as mentally ill by the courts. I chose forgiveness so I would not become another destructive statistic.”
She insists she never hid her identity by using “Pardo Pope” from the start and labels the attacks as “smears” from leftist “bullies” intended to distract from her vision for Miami Beach.
The controversy escalated when Pardo Pope, in a statement to the Miami New Times, falsely claimed that filmmaker Billy Corben “had lost a defamation case” – a lie that prompted Corben to file a complaint with the Florida Bar on November 20, 2025.
The Bar opened a disciplinary file on December 1, giving Pardo Pope until December 10 – one day after the election – to respond. Corben, who actually won that case and received a six-figure settlement, stressed: “This is not about the sins of the father, but the lies of the daughter.”
Such investigations advance in only 25% of complaints, yet they could stain her license if ethical misconduct is proven – a reminder of how the hypocritical left attacks conservatives for past missteps while ignoring its own scandals.
In a state where Republicans like Ron DeSantis have pushed back the progressive tide with law-and-order policies, Monique Pardo Pope’s candidacy represents conservative resilience: a woman who turns pain into action, prioritizing working families over woke ideologies that dilute personal responsibility.
Her advance despite the attacks shows that voters value practical solutions over sensationalist gossip. With early voting from December 5–7 coinciding with Art Basel – and hellish traffic around the Convention Center – voters are urged to plan ahead: request mail ballots before November 27 or vote at sites like Muss Park to avoid congestion.
December 9 will decide whether Miami Beach chooses Republican common sense or the Democratic status quo.
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