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It took nearly 30 years, but Democrats finally broke their decades-long ballot box losing streak in Miami, Florida, the city known as the nation’s “Gateway to Latin America.”
Democrat Eileen Higgins, a former county commissioner, defeated Republican Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, in Tuesday’s Miami’s mayoral runoff election, according to the Associated Press.
While the election was technically nonpartisan, the ballot box face-off became the latest showdown this year between Democrats and Republicans, with both parties pouring in resources and the race grabbing plenty of national attention.
President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzalez and this past weekend took to social media to emphasize that Miami’s mayoral election “is a big and important race!!! Vote for Republican Gonzalez.”
WHY MIAMI, FLORIDA IS IN THE NATION’S POLITICAL SPOTLIGHT
Democratic County Commissioner Eileen Higgins and Gov. Ron DeSantis-backed Republican candidate Emilio González faced off Tuesday in a runoff for Miami mayor after no candidate received 50% of votes in November’s election. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Rebecca Blackwell; The Associated Press)
Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Florida poured in resources to boost Gonzalez.
But Democrats, energized by last month’s decisive 2025 election victories and by last week’s double-digit overperformance in a special election in a red-leaning congressional district in Tennessee, aimed for a victory in Miami.
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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and allied groups invested in the race.
DNC Chair Ken Martin told Fox News Digital that, following last week’s “historic overperformance in Tennessee and the record Democratic momentum across the country this year,” the DNC is now “laser focused” on Miami’s mayoral runoff.
Martin added that the DNC was “all-in” for Higgins.
Eileen Higgins, a Miami-Dade County commissioner running in Tuesday’s Miami mayoral runoff election, speaks to supporters preparing to go canvas on her behalf Nov. 1, 2025, at Miami City Hall in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)
Florida was once the largest of the general election battleground states but has shifted dramatically to the right over the past decade.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won re-election by nearly 20 points in 2022, and Trump carried the state by 13 points in last year’s presidential election victory.
But Miami remains a rare blue oasis in the Sunshine State. Trump narrowly lost the city in last year’s presidential election, although the president won the wider Miami-Dade County by 11 points.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS
Higgins, a mechanical engineer and former Peace Corps director in Belize, focused on the issue of affordability and of making local government work better and faster during her campaign.
González, a veteran and senior advisor at an asset management firm, spotlighted the fight against overdevelopment and called for the elimination of property taxes for primary homes as he bid for mayor.
City of Miami mayoral candidate Emilio González speaks to supporters and the media during an election night watch party at Hoy Como Ayer in Little Havana, in Miami Nov. 4, 2025. (Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Higgins captured 36% of the vote in the Nov. 4 election, with González coming in second at 19%, in the multi-candidate field. With no candidate topping 50%, the contest headed to Tuesday’s runoff.
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Higgins will succeed term-limited Republican Mayor Francis Suarez, who grabbed national attention two years ago as he briefly and unsuccessfully ran for the GOP presidential nomination.
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