Surfside Mayor Race Heads to Runoff, Commission Recount

Surfside voters went to the polls Tuesday and left without clear answers, sending the race for mayor to an April runoff and pushing a commission seat toward an automatic recount after just 17 votes separated two candidates.

Former Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger led the field with 49.2% of the vote, falling just short of the 50%-plus-1 threshold required to win outright. He will face Vice Mayor Tina Paul, who captured 36.5%, in a runoff scheduled for April 7. The winner will succeed outgoing Mayor Charles Burkett.

Danzinger sent a text statement saying he is “deeply grateful” to residents who turned out and to those who placed trust in his campaign. “Reaching the runoff reflects the hard work and dedication of many people who care deeply about the future of our town,” he wrote. “Surfside deserves steady leadership and a clear path forward, and I look forward to continuing the conversation with residents as we head into the runoff election.” Paul did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Former Town Manager and Commissioner Mark Blumenstein, who drew 14.3%, did not advance.

The commission race proved even tighter. In an at-large contest for four seats, candidates Donna Benmergui, Dovid “David” Weingot and Andrea Travani secured three of the spots with 15.8%, 15.7% and 14.8% of the vote, respectively. The fourth seat is headed for a mandatory recount.

Incumbent Gerardo Vildostegui received 14.4% of the vote, while challenger Yonathan Berdugo pulled 14.08%. The gap between them is 0.32 percentage points, well within the 0.5% threshold that triggers an automatic recount under Florida law. Seventeen votes currently separate the two candidates. Other commission candidates William Blumenkranz, Jocelyn Kinzer and Fred Landsman finished with 6.6%, 11.6% and 7%, respectively.

Provisional ballots and cure affidavits still need to be processed, and the Canvassing Board has not yet certified official results. Either race could shift before that process concludes.

Beyond the contested races, Surfside voters also weighed in on two charter amendments, splitting their verdict cleanly down the middle.

They approved, with 65% support, a proposal to move Surfside’s municipal elections from March to November of even-numbered years starting in 2028, aligning local races with the General Election cycle. Under the change, future runoffs would be held on the second Tuesday of December. Officials elected this year, including whoever wins the April 7 mayoral runoff, will serve extended terms through November 2028 to allow for the transition. The shift could boost overall turnout in future cycles, since municipal elections held in isolation historically draw smaller electorates than those sharing a ballot with statewide or federal races.

Voters rejected the second proposed amendment, with 54% voting against it. The source material does not include the full text of that proposal.

The results put Surfside, a small beachfront town of roughly 5,800 residents, in an extended election season just as spring approaches. The April 7 runoff is less than three weeks out, giving both Danzinger and Paul little time to consolidate support. Danzinger enters that race with a significant lead in the initial tally, but runoff electorates rarely mirror the composition of first-round voters, and Paul will need to make the case to supporters of eliminated candidates that she offers a stronger alternative.

On the commission side, the recount outcome carries real stakes for Vildostegui, the lone incumbent among eight candidates. Retaining his seat would require surviving a vote count this close in a town where every precinct result, mail ballot and provisional affidavit carries outsized weight.

Surfside residents are no strangers to political intensity. The town has spent years rebuilding its civic identity following the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse, and questions about development, density and municipal governance have animated local races ever since. Tuesday’s unresolved results mean that conversation continues well into the spring.