Alex Penelas
American politician
Alexander Penelas (born December 18, 1961) is an American attorney who is the former mayor of Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Education and personal life
Penelas, an American of Cuban descent, attended St. Thomas University and graduated in 1981 with a degree in political science. In 1985, he received his J.D. degree from the University of Miami School of Law, where he graduated cum laude and was inducted into the university's Iron Arrow Honor Society.
Penelas and his wife, Lilliam, have two adult sons, William and Christopher, and a younger daughter, Alexandra.
City council and county commission
Alex Penelas served on the city council of Hialeah, Florida from 1987 to 1990. In 1990, he was elected to serve as a county commissioner in Dade County.
County mayor
Penelas ran in 1996 for Mayor of Dade County, renamed Miami-Dade County in 1997. Penelas advanced to the runoff for Mayor against fellow commissioner Arthur Teele. Penelas scored 37% to Teele's 25% with former mayor of Miami Maurice Ferre and Xavier Suarez in third and fourth.
The public source identifies “Alex Penelas” as american politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alex, Penelas and American.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4717614. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 1981, 1985 and 1987.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alex Penelas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.