Miami’s ‘Marshmallow Mayor’ Regains His Post After 23 Years

The band played “Happy Days Are Here Again” in an ode to Steve Clark’s past. Now able to joke about his nickname--”the marshmallow mayor”--Clark faces a vastly different city as he regains the post he left 23 years ago.

“I’m back in the saddle again, like Gene Autry,” Clark said Wednesday, still savoring Tuesday night’s shindig celebrating his victory in Miami’s mayoral runoff. He defeated City Commissioner Miriam Alonso, his Cuban-born challenger, to regain the post he held in 1967-1970, when now-Latinized Miami was dominated by Southern whites.

Clark, 69, was sworn in Wednesday to begin a four-year term. He was jovial, joking about his old moniker “the marshmallow mayor.”

“Everyone loves marshmallows,” said Clark, who got that tag for his devotion to ribbon-cuttings, parades and proclamations in three decades of politics, including 20 years as the Metro-Dade mayor.

Over the years, Clark said, he’s had “great success in being a consensus-builder.”

Like the Dade County post, Miami’s mayor has little executive power; still, it’s a high-profile position that helps set a tone for the city.

“I’d like to have the style of government we had back in the ‘60s. Less consternation. More decorum. I’d like to bring that back to the city.

“It’s a lot different now,” Clark acknowledged. “There were a lot of Latins here, but none were citizens. Now we have 52,000 registered Latin voters.”

Maurice Ferre, Puerto Rico-born, was elected mayor in 1973 and held the job until 1985, when Xavier Suarez became the first Cuban-born mayor. Suarez campaigned for Clark.

Latinos account for nearly half the voters, with blacks and whites nearly even in numbers.

Exit polls indicated Alonso won a large majority of Latino voters over age 50, but younger Latinos rejected her call to keep the mayor’s post as “a Hispanic seat.” Clark, a Democrat, carried predominantly black and predominantly white neighborhoods 4 to 1.