Eileen Higgins, a former Miami-Dade County commissioner, has been elected as Miami's first female mayor and the city's first Democratic mayor since the 1990s, defeating Republican Emilio Gonzalez by a wide margin in a runoff election. Her victory marks a significant political shift in the Hispanic-majority city and has drawn national attention as a test of voter sentiment on immigration, affordability and local governance.
In a historic runoff election on Tuesday, Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayoral race over Republican Emilio Gonzalez by roughly 18 to 19 percentage points, according to results reported by Reuters and NPR. Higgins, 61, is set to become Miami's first woman mayor and the first Democrat to hold the office since 1997, ending nearly three decades of Republican control of City Hall. She is also the first non-Hispanic to serve as mayor since the 1990s, according to national and local coverage. The current mayor, Republican Francis Suarez, was unable to seek re-election because of term limits.
The officially nonpartisan contest took on a sharply partisan tone as national figures weighed in. Gonzalez, a former Miami city manager, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, according to Reuters and conservative outlet the Daily Wire. Higgins, a longtime Democrat who previously served on the Miami-Dade County Commission, received backing from prominent Democrats and national party organizations; the Daily Wire reports that among her high-profile supporters were former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rahm Emanuel, a former Obama White House chief of staff.
Higgins centered her campaign on what she described as local priorities: restoring trust in City Hall, tackling Miami's high cost of living, improving transit and protecting the environment, while making it easier for small businesses and homeowners to navigate city permitting. In interviews with NPR and the Associated Press, she also emphasized defending immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities and making Miami a welcoming home for migrants. "We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations," she told the AP after her victory speech, adding that residents were ready to be "done" with that tone.
At a victory celebration in Miami, supporters cast the result as part of a broader national trend favoring Democrats in local and state contests. Local party leaders described the outcome as a repudiation of hard-line immigration policies and rhetoric associated with Trump-era crackdowns. One local Democratic official told NPR the vote "speaks to the moment" and to what many people in the country are feeling about issues such as rising housing costs and fears over family members facing detention.
Gonzalez conceded the race and said he had called Higgins to congratulate her, according to NPR's reporting of his remarks. He thanked the thousands of Miami residents who backed his message of focusing on public safety, integrity in government and support for families, and wished the city well under its new leadership.
Democratic officials nationally have highlighted the Miami race as a key symbolic win: it flips a mayor's office that had been held by Republicans for nearly 30 years in a state where the GOP has recently strengthened its position. Analysts note that Miami, a city that is majority Latino and has in recent election cycles leaned toward Republican candidates, backed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris over Trump in 2024. While experts caution that one mayoral contest cannot predict future elections, they say the result may point to shifting attitudes among some Latino voters in Miami-Dade County amid concern over immigration enforcement and mounting living costs.
