A video of a Friday encounter outside Miami Beach City Hall shows state Rep. Fabián Basabe walking behind Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava toward her car as he asks her questions. She continues walking and does not respond. Levine Cava had come to campaign alongside Democratic candidates during the final stretch of early voting.
Christian Ulvert, Levine Cava's top political adviser, filmed and released the 81-second clip while walking beside the mayor. It shows Levine Cava from behind as Basabe follows her. Ulvert told Florida Politics that he considered the encounter harassment and called it “disgraceful.”
In the footage, Basabe asks Levine Cava to denounce the Muslim Brotherhood and questions whether she supports Democratic socialist candidates. He also alleges that she backs causes hostile to Israel or Jewish people.
Basabe Fires Back, Calls It Free Speech
Basabe, a Republican who has represented House District 106 since 2022, pushed back hard on the harassment framing. He criticized Ulvert for issuing a statement rather than letting Levine Cava speak for herself, and insisted the confrontation was simply free speech, arguing that the mayor and his own opponent should answer questions directly instead of hiding behind handlers. Basabe shared his own cellphone video showing moments before and during the encounter, footage that depicted Ulvert and Levine Cava seated at a cafe near Miami Beach City Hall before the chase began.
At one point in the exchange, Basabe told Ulvert, “I know you're not going to touch me, fat boy.” Ulvert, for his part, said Levine Cava felt threatened by the pursuit and described Basabe's conduct as dangerous. Basabe also claimed that Levine Cava and Ulvert were “bought and paid for,” part of a broader pattern of accusations he leveled at the mayor's camp throughout the confrontation.
Threats to officials and the limits of precedent
Broader surveys offer context, but cannot establish what happened in this encounter. The Brennan Center for Justice found that more than 40 percent of state legislators reported threats or attacks in the prior three years, while more than 18 percent of local officeholders reported them in the prior year and a half. The National League of Cities’ 2021 report, based on nine interviews and a survey of 112 local public officials, also examined officials’ experiences with harassment, threats and violence; its findings do not determine what occurred in Miami Beach. A separate 2020 Florida case offers a limited point of comparison. The News Herald reported that an appeals-court majority overturned an injunction sought by state Sen. Lauren Book against an activist over online posts and appearances at events, finding his actions protected speech. That ruling does not decide the facts or legality of the Miami Beach encounter.
The timing of the standoff carried an added edge. Levine Cava and the county's 13 commissioners were just days from losing police protection from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, with Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz ending elected officials' security details over budget concerns. Ulvert said a sheriff's deputy had waited in a nearby car during the stop but did not accompany Levine Cava to the polling place, explaining that the visit counted as a political event rather than official county business.
A Campaign Swing Through Miami Beach
Levine Cava's appearance at Miami Beach City Hall was part of a multi-day get-out-the-vote push. Per Florida Politics, the mayor had planned to vote early and make stops across Miami-Dade with seven Democratic candidates through the end of early voting, which ran through Sunday at 28 county sites open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for any registered voter in the county. One of those stops put her alongside Lucia Báez-Geller, the former School Board member challenging Basabe in House District 106 — a race Basabe won by just 240 votes in 2022 before expanding his margin to roughly four points in 2024.
Levine Cava also campaigned with Angie Nixon, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Florida and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a connection Basabe referenced in his questioning. Báez-Geller, notably, was not a client of Ulvert's. Levine Cava's broader get-out-the-vote effort also doubled as opposition to Amendment 3, a proposed homestead-exemption expansion that Miami-Dade County estimated would cut property-tax revenue by $385.8 million in its first year and $696.7 million the year after at current rates. A St. Pete Polls survey cited by Florida Politics found the amendment polling at 44% support against 39% opposed, far short of the 60% threshold it needs to pass.
Basabe's Legal Troubles Loom Over the Clash
The confrontation arrives against the backdrop of Basabe's own legal history. In July, a jury found him civilly liable for sexual harassment, battery and defamation, awarding $450,000 to former aide Nicolas Frevola and former intern Jacob Cutbirth, according to Florida Politics. The civil lawsuit, which also named Frevola's mother, Janette Frevola, as a plaintiff, was detailed earlier in the year by Politico, which reported that Basabe denied the allegations before trial and contended they were unsupported by reliable evidence.
Two related investigations into Basabe by the Florida Commission on Ethics were dismissed, Florida Politics reported, even as five of Miami Beach's seven City Commission members called for his resignation. Ulvert, a Democratic strategist credited with helping elect Levine Cava, has built a formidable political operation of his own; Florida Bulldog reported his political committees have raised roughly $1.8 million since January for this year's primary and general elections, with his Our Democracy committee alone pulling in $549,620 in the first five months of the year, the most of the dozen PACs he chairs.
As of Friday, there was no indication of an official police report or government statement addressing the confrontation itself, and Levine Cava had not issued a direct response of her own beyond Ulvert's account on her behalf.
