For the primary time in almost three a long time, town of Miami has elected a Democrat as mayor. The victory marks a significant swing within the Florida constituency that supported Donald Trump one 12 months in the past. The win in Miami builds upon this 12 months’s blue wave that noticed a variety of Democratic victories this 12 months, whilst each events gear up for subsequent 12 months’s midterm elections.
Democrats win as ‘Miami selected a brand new path’
Democratic candidate Eileen Higgins simply received a runoff election Tuesday to change into the subsequent Mayor of Miami. Higgins, a former county commissioner who represented downtown Miami for 8 years, received 60 p.c of the vote within the runoff after coming in first place with 36 p.c of the vote in November’s 13-candidate race. On Tuesday, she confronted Republican Emilio Gonzalez, a former metropolis supervisor who has additionally been an Air Drive colonel, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers and the CEO of Miami Worldwide Airport at numerous instances. Gonzalez got here in second within the first spherical of the election in November. In defeating Gonzalez, Higgins mentioned that “Miami selected a brand new path.”
She painted her victory as a selection of “competence over chaos, outcomes over excuses and a metropolis authorities that lastly works for you.”
Though the Miami mayoral election is formally nonpartisan, the race drew nationwide consideration and main involvement from each events. Gonzalex, who cofounded Veterans for Trump and served on the president’s transition staff, obtained endorsements from Trump in addition to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Higgins drew help from the Democratic Nationwide Committee, which took the bizarre step of getting concerned in a mayoral race and mobilizing volunteers for the election. DNC Chair Ken Martin mentioned in November that “between now and Election Day, the DNC is all-in to elect Eileen Higgins and guarantee Miami households have a champion who’s combating for them, not Donald Trump.” Higgins was additionally endorsed by outstanding Democrats, together with Pete Buttigieg, who served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation beneath President Biden.
Democrats look to construct upon success in 2026
Miami is a considerably uncommon political atmosphere, tending to help Democrats in presidential elections however Republicans within the metropolis’s mayoral elections. In 2024, Trump grew to become the primary Republican in over 30 years to win Miami-Dade County, partly a manifestation of his unexpectedly robust efficiency amongst Latino voters in that election. Against this, the victory for Higgins one 12 months later is the primary time that Miami has elected a Democratic mayor in almost 30 years. That is the most recent in a string of victories for Democrats this 12 months, who additionally received high-profile races reminiscent of Zohran Mamdani’s election as the subsequent Mayor of New York Metropolis.
The Miami runoff election was a low turnout occasion, with lower than 37,000 folks voting in Tuesday’s runoff out of a inhabitants of roughly half one million folks. However, Democrats are taking the Miami outcomes as a powerful signal that they might make important features in Congress in subsequent 12 months’s midterm elections. Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries of New York posted, “Congratulations to Mayor-elect Eileen Higgins on crushing Donald Trump’s candidate!” Jeffries additionally introduced, “We’re coming for the three South Florida Republicans subsequent,” declaring Democrats’ intention to flip Republican-held congressional seats in Florida.
Democrats nonetheless have an extended solution to go of their try to retake Congress in a 2026 election that has already been marked by partisan gerrymandering, heated rhetoric and sharp political divisions. However Tuesday’s mayoral victory in Miami has given them one other signal that the political tide could also be turning towards Democrats and away from Trump and his GOP allies.
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