Tomás Pedro Regalado y Valdez (born May 24, 1947) is a Cuban American politician and former

broadcast journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

who has served as the property appraiser of

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County () is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most-populous coun ...

since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 42nd mayor of Miami from 2009 to 2017. He served as the news director for Radio Mambí

WAQI WAQI (710 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Miami, Florida, United States, featuring a Spanish-language Talk radio, talk format known as . Owned by Latino Media Network and formerly operated by Uforia Audio Network, ...

and as a reporter for

Univisión Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

Early life and education

Born in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Operation Peter Pan. The two brothers lived at the boys' camp in Kendall and then Florida City for several months until their aunt, Silvia Váldez, claimed them. They lived with her until their mother arrived in Miami a year later. In Miami, Regalado attended high school at Immaculata-Lasalle High School in

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as "The Grove", is an affluent and the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods of Miami, neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by North Prospect Driv ...

and then at the Lindsey Hopkins vocational school. He attended seminars at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

Koubek Center for journalism.

Journalism career

Regalado became the youngest reporter on staff at WFAB, La Fabulosa. He quickly ascended from reporter to assistant producer. At twenty one, Regalado was hired by WCKT (now WSVN) an NBC affiliate as the Latin American news editor and host of the news program Tele-Amigo. After two years at WCKT then Channel 7, Regalado returned to WFAB as a news producer and anchor. In 1974, Regalado became a reporter for

WLTV WLTV-DT (channel 23) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, serving as the local Univision outlet. It is one of two flagship stations of the Spanish-language network (the other being WXTV-DT in the New York City market). W ...

Channel 23 but returned to radio in 1977 as the news director in charge of all programming for La Fabulosa, WFAB. In 1970, Regalado decided to leave the news desk and became the station's first international news correspondent. In the years that followed, Regalado traveled to Africa and covered the civil war in Angola, the riots in Soweto, South Africa and the civil war in Mozambique. Regalado had interviewed Presidents

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

and

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

. In 1983, he became the first Cuban American member of the

White House Press Corps White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wavele ...

. As a member of the Press Corps, Regalado traveled with Presidents

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

, and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. Regalado accompanied the presidents on their foreign trips, including but not limited to summits from 1983 to 1993 and met such figures as

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

, and Anwar Al Sadat. In this time period, Regalado also covered the presidential campaigns and national party conventions. In 1986, Regalado was approved as an applicant to NASA's Journalist in Space Program which was canceled after the Challenger explosion. While a full-time news director on Spanish-language radio Regalado also worked for ''El Miami Herald'' as a weekly columnist. Regalado covered the civil war in Nicaragua and El Salvador and has visited over 78 countries throughout the world. Along with his wife Raquel, Tomas spoke several times before the Human Rights Commission of United Nations in Geneva Switzerland against human rights violations in Cuba. In June 2018, Regalado was sworn in as the Director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB).

Political career

Miami Commissioner (1996–2009)

On September 3, 1996, Regalado was elected in a special election for city commissioner, vacated by newly elected Mayor Joe Carollo. He defeated CC Reed. One week after his election, the city of Miami's economic crisis was exposed by Operation Green Palm and an oversight board was installed. Governor

Lawton Chiles Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (April 3, 1930 – December 12, 1998) was an American politician and military officer. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senate, United States senator fr ...

declared Miami a state of financial emergency. He opposed laying off police officers saying "The police have been the darling of the city of Miami." During that time, he kept the news director position in the Spanish Broadcasting Systems by working as a daily host and commentator on WWFE la Poderosa and a host of a daily news program on the Cable Network TeleMiami. Regalado won re-election in 1999 (unknown), 2003 (unopposed), and 2007 (90%).

Mayor of Miami (2009–2017)

On November 3, 2009, Regalado was elected Miami's 42nd Mayor with 72% of the vote. He kept his promise he would lower his salary by $50,000 as well as reducing his pension by 25%. In 2012 he received from the hands of Roman Viotto Leandro Award "Referrer" awarded by the Foundation Young Leaders. Regalado said in August 2011: "I feel like

. Some people really hated him, and some people loved him." Regalado said of his goals: "Do I have a vision? Keep taxes down. Reduce the size of government. Fix the potholes. Fix the streets. Pick up the garbage." His biggest accomplishments are balancing the budget three times and striking deals with the unions. Regalado was re-elected to a second term in office in 2013 with 78% of the vote, garnering over 20,000 votes out of over 26,000 votes cast. Regalado got national attention for challenging President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

on the issue of

sea level rise The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

. Prior to leaving office, Regalado placed on the ballot and campaigned for a sea level rise bond which received overwhelming support.

Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser

After incumbent property appraiser Pedro Garcia, age 87, announced he would not seek re-election, Regalado defeated Democratic nominee Marisol Zenteno in the 2024 general election with 57% of the vote. Upon assuming office, Regalado proposed lowering taxes for Miami-Dade residents by incorporating harm from

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

into property evaluations.

Personal life

Regalado married a fellow radio commentator, Raquel Ferreiro, in 1972 at St. Hugh Catholic Church in

. The couple were married for thirty-seven years, until Ferreiro's death in 2008. Since 2015, Regalado has been married to Ana Cristina Carrodeguas. Regalado's father was a political prisoner. In 1979, Tomás Regalado Molina, was released from prison thanks to the intercession of the then

President of Costa Rica The president of the Republic of Costa Rica is the head of state and head of government of Costa Rica. The president is currently elected in direct elections for a period of four years, which is not immediately renewable. Two Vice President of ...

, Rodrigo Carazo. Regalado Sr. worked alongside his son and daughter-in-law as a producer and news editor at WRHC, the Cadena Azul, and was also a contributor to el ''Diario de las Americas'' and ''

El Nuevo Herald ''El Nuevo Herald'' is a newspaper published daily in Spanish in Southeast Florida, United States. Its headquarters is in Doral. ''El Nuevo Heralds sister paper is the ''Miami Herald'', also produced by the McClatchy Company. About ''el Nuevo ...

'' until his sudden death in 1995 at the age of 74. Regalado's mother, Carmen Rita, died soon after in 1998. Regalado has three children: * His eldest son, Tomás N. Regalado, known as Tommy, is an anchor and producer at TV Marti with political ambitions. In April 2017, he announced his candidacy to City Council for District 3. He was defeated in the general election in November 2017. * His daughter, Raquel Regalado, is an attorney and was an elected Miami-Dade County Public School Board member for six years representing District 6 and ran for

Mayor of Miami-Dade County The following is a list of mayors of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Mayors See also * List of mayors of Miami (city) * Government of Miami-Dade County References

{{Mayors of Miami-Dade County History of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Mayors L ...

in 2016. She became a candidate after taking on the proposed Courthouse tax, and took the incumbent Mayor, Carlos A. Giménez, to an unexpected run off. She eventually lost to Giménez, a Republican who supported

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

. She later ran for Florida's 27th congressional district, after the incumbent,

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ( ; ; born July 15, 1952) is an American politician and lobbyist from Miami, Florida, who represented from 1989 to 2019. By the end of her tenure, she was the most senior U.S. Representative from Florida. She was Chairwoman ...

, said she would not be running for re-election. However, she dropped out in November 2017. She currently represents the District 7 seat of the Miami-Dade County Commission. * His youngest son, José, volunteered for a few years in his father's office, shortly after he began to work in adventure television. As of 2017, he is a legislative aide to Miami's Commissioner from the 4th district, Manolo Reyes.

References

;Specific ;General *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Regalado, Tomas 1947 births Living people County constitutional officer (Florida) 21st-century mayors of places in Florida Mayors of Miami American politicians of Cuban descent Hispanic and Latino American mayors in Florida Politicians from Havana Cuban emigrants to the United States Florida Republicans Immaculata-LaSalle High School alumni Latino conservatism in the United States