Luigi Boria (born April 23, 1958) is a Venezuelan-born American politician who served as mayor of

Doral, Florida Doral is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. One of 34 municipalities in the county, it is located west of Miami International Airport and west of Downtown Miami. Doral occupies bordered on the west by the Ronald Reagan Tu ...

from 2012 to 2016. Boria defeated former

Miami-Dade School Board Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is a public school district serving Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida. Founded in 1885, it is the largest school district in Florida and the Southeastern United States, and, , the fourth l ...

member Frank Bolaños in the 2012 elections, obtaining 54% of the vote.

Biography

Boria, who is also an evangelical Christian pastor, was born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

in 1958 to Italian parents who emigrated to that country. He studied accounting at the

Andrés Bello Catholic University Andrés Bello Catholic University also known in Spanish as Universidad Católica Andrés Bello is a private university in Venezuela. One of the largest universities in Venezuela, UCAB has campuses in several cities, such as Caracas (where the mai ...

, a private institution, in 1982. In 1989 he left Venezuela to settle in Doral, Florida, where he currently lives. Boria has run various companies in both Venezuela and the United States since the 1980s. He was elected mayor of Doral in the 2012 elections as a non-partisan, becoming the second Venezuelan to be elected mayor in the US, after

Philip Giordano Philip Anthony Giordano (born March 25, 1963) is the former Republican mayor of Waterbury, Connecticut, and a convicted sex offender. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, to Italian parents and his family moved to the United States when he was two ...

, of Waterbury, Connecticut. Boria was investigated for corruption in 2015 after renting a campaign office at an extremely high price compared to the market price, but was not charged. Boria gave the key to the city to future President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

in March 2015, after he brought the

Miss Universe 2015 Miss Universe 2015 was the 64th Miss Universe pageant, held at The AXIS at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States on December 20, 2015. This was the first edition of the pageant to be held under the ownership of WME/IMG, which ...

(although it ultimately did not take place) to Doral, and supported his candidacy. Boria lost reelection to former mayor Juan Carlos Bermúdez in the 2016 elections. Boria got 33% of the vote in the first round, but lost in the second round, in which Mayor Bermúdez reached 66% of the vote. Since 2016, Boria has been a member of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boria, Luigi American politicians of Italian descent Venezuelan emigrants to the United States Mayors of places in Florida Living people 1958 births People from Caracas