Well-Known Doral Politician Broadens Political Horizons as Miami Dade Commissioner

By Lou Hernandez

The youngest of four siblings, Juan Carlos Bermudez, better known as J.C., emigrated to the United States from Cuba with his family at the age of three. His older brother had been sent ahead as a “Peter Pan” child, three and a half years prior to his entire family being able to leave the Communist island on the Freedom Flights which began in the mid-1960s. “We were resettled in Rockville Center, Long Island with a Cuban sponsor who happened to be from our hometown of Santa Clara,” said Bermudez. “Then we relocated to Hialeah.”

Bermudez went on to graduate from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Arts degree and obtained his juris doctor from the University of Notre Dame Law School.

Elected as a Miami-Dade County Commissioner last November, Bermudez recalled when he decided to get into politics: “When I moved to Doral, there were no parks for my kids and the roads were bad. I thought we were paying a lot in taxes, and we didn’t have schools and we didn’t have parks. I didn’t like the way unincorporated West Dade was being treated by the county, and that’s what started it all. I got mad, so I decided to do something about it.”

“I was first appointed to office by Miami-Dade County Commissioner José “Pepe” Cancio, Sr., to the community council nine, which represented Doral and all of West Dade,” informed Bermudez. “At that time the officials were appointed, but we changed the ordinance to have the officials elected. Then I put my name into the running for a community council seat in 2001, and we were able to create

One Doral.”

One Doral was a civic organization intent on promoting the incorporation of Doral, while maintaining independence from neighboring influences.

“I resigned my seat on the council and ran for the elected seat and our group won all four seats,” continued Bermudez. “Commissioner Cancio appointed the fifth one and we had the majority in the nine-seat community council. The next year, the commissioner, who had been part of the Doral municipal advisory committee, moved to incorporate the city of Doral. As chair of the community council, I was urged to run for mayor.”

Bermudez was elected to office as Doral’s first mayor in June 2003, six months after voters had overwhelming (85%) cast ballots in favor of incorporation. He served two terms, totaling nine and a half years. “I remember my first council meeting as mayor,” the commissioner said. “It was at Doral Park. I didn’t have a gavel, but a resident, a wonderful guy named Tom, gave me a baseball signed by Ernie Banks to use as the gavel in the historic meeting. He knew I was a baseball fan. I still have the ball.”

By popular election, the founding mayor of the City of Doral returned to his former top post in 2016 and was reelected in 2020. In the summer of his reelection year, the Miami-Dade County School Board approved the naming of the local high school as J.C. Bermudez Doral Senior High School.

In 2023, facing a term limit in 2024, the incumbent Bermudez decided to resign as mayor of Doral and run for the open Miami-Dade County Commission seat, representing 188,000 residents in District 12. The district is the county’s second largest in territory, comprised of the commissioner’s hometown of Doral, Hialeah Gardens, Medley, Sweetwater, the west part of Hialeah, and reaching unincorporated areas that border Collier County. Bermudez ran on a platform of “honesty, transparency, efficiency of government, and getting things done instead of bull-spitting.” Although he was vastly outspent by his opponent, he won handily.

His plans for his first term: “I want to get the important things done, eliminate inefficiency. I will try and get the facility where garbage is burned to convert to energy moved. I don’t think that type of facility belongs in an urban area with a lot of residents around.”

The father of three daughters, Eneida Marie, Elena Catherine, and Elisa Nicole, and married to wife Vivian for 32 years, Bermudez is able to balance his home and professional life as a family man and lawyer and politician. “My daughters are wonderful kids, and my wife is a special needs teacher in public school.”

As commissioner, Bermudez manages a staff of eight. “I like making a difference, helping people and making policy that helps the community,” he stated. “I love South Florida. I grew up here.

“As every politician knows, you can make a lot more money in the private sector. Some people get involved in politics for the wrong reasons. I always tell people not to enter politics unless you have a passion to change things.”