Eileen Higgins will be the next mayor of the city of Miami, according to a projection from CNN’s Decision Desk, breaking a nearly 30-year Republican streak in holding the nonpartisan seat and giving Democrats another example of strong performance in elections during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Higgins, a former county commissioner, will defeat city manager Emilio Gonzalez, who was endorsed by Trump. She won Tuesday’s runoff after leading the first round of voting on November 4 with 35% of the vote to Gonzalez’s 19%.
Democrats are already riding a wave of momentum after a dominant performance in November’s off-year elections and over-performing their 2024 results in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, shrinking a 22-point 2024 margin to single digits in a special election last week.
While Miami’s mayor holds little formal power, the person in the role serves as a high-profile ambassador for the city, which has a large Latino population and has been at the epicenter of debates over immigration detention and efforts led by Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants.
“We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations,” Higgins told The Associated Press after her victory speech Tuesday night. “The residents of Miami were ready to be done with that.”
Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, congratulated Higgins in a statement Tuesday, writing, “I am thrilled for Eileen and cannot think of a better person to shatter Miami’s glass ceiling by becoming the first woman to lead the city in its 129-year history.”
The Miami skyline rises above the Wynwood neighborhood on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. – Carl Juste/The Miami Herald/TNS/Getty Images/File
Affordability was a key issue throughout the campaign, especially relevant in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Capitalizing on the Democrats’ national focus on the topic as of late, Higgins supported building more affordable housing. Gonzalez backed a DeSantis-supported plan that would eliminate property taxes for primary residences.
“My opponent is keen on building, building, building,” Gonzalez said in an interview with CNN. “She wants to put a skyscraper in every corner … then calling it affordable housing, which is a misnomer, because very rarely is it truly affordable.”
Immigration came up frequently in debates. Miami is home to the Krome immigrant detention center, which has gained notoriety for overcrowding and subpar conditions.
Gonzalez said in a debate last month he supports federal law enforcement rounding up “people who commit crimes.” Higgins, in the same debate, denounced US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s actions in Miami as “inhumane and cruel” and criticized the detention center DeSantis opened and nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“This is the first year ever where residents have told me they’re afraid, right?” Higgins said in an earlier interview with CNN. “I can’t go an hour when I am at community events without meeting someone whose brother, sister, aunt, uncle, was either taken to Alligator Alcatraz or who knows where? They don’t even know where they are.”
Miami Dade College’s possible site of the proposed Trump presidential library in Miami, Florida, on September 23. – Al Diaz/Miami Herald/TNS/Getty Images/File
Higgins will take office amid an ongoing legal battle over the land where Trump’s presidential library is supposed to be built. Miami-Dade College voted for a second time this month to cede valuable downtown property to the foundation for the library. The college is being sued by an activist who alleges it violated Florida’s open government law, and a judge temporarily blocked the sale. A trial is scheduled for August.
Democrats are already riding on a new wave of momentum after a dominant performance in November and a recent special election in Tennessee’s 7th District, where even with a loss they shrunk Trump’s 22-point 2024 margin to single digits.
A Higgins win will add even more enthusiasm to the party right before turning the calendar to 2026 and the midterms.
Miami-Dade County, which encompasses Miami and some of its surrounding suburbs, voted Republican in 2024 after long being a Democratic stronghold. Trump became the first Republican presidential to win Miami-Dade since 1988. This swing was predicted in many ways by DeSantis’ significant reelection margin there in 2022, beating Democrat Charlie Crist by 11 percentage points.
Higgins won’t be the only mayor in town. The city of Miami and Miami-Dade County both elect mayors. Miami-Dade is led by is Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat although the position is officially nonpartisan. She oversees the whole of the county, including dealing with broader, county-wide issues concerning Miami proper.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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