Eileen Higgins made history on Tuesday by becoming Miami’s first female mayor, defeating her opponent, former city administrator Emilio González, at the polls with nearly 60% of the vote. With her victory, Higgins, 61, also becomes the first Democrat — and someone who is neither of Cuban descent nor Cuban-American — to hold the office in the past 30 years.
“Tonight, the people of Miami made history. Together, we left behind years of chaos and corruption and opened the door to a new stage for our city,” Higgins said in a statement, where he thanked the support for “beating politics as usual.”
The race for mayor of Miami, Florida’s second-most populous city, is nonpartisan, but has been seen from the start as a political battle between Higgins, a Democrat, and González, a Republican, after Miami-Dade County — a Democratic stronghold for decades — went Republican in the last presidential election by supporting Donald Trump (even though the city of Miami gave Kamala Harris a narrow lead).
This scenario opened the door to an increasingly political race, and the fight intensified last month after Trump gave his “full” support to González as Democrats scored important victories in key offices such as the mayor of New York and the governors of Virginia and New Jersey, interpreted as a rejection of Trump’s policies and a boost for the Democratic Party in the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections. Hand, the Democratic National Committee endorsed Higgins – an unusual move at the municipal level – placing the election in the national spotlight as a thermometer of the Hispanic vote in the United States.
Miami has a population of half a million, more than 70% of whom are Hispanic and nearly 60% immigrants. The majority of residents are Cubans and Cuban Americans (30%). The city is just one of 34 municipalities in Miami-Dade, a county that is more than 70% Hispanic.
During the race, the Republican Party compared Higgins to Mamdani – who Trump called a “communist” during the New York City Council campaign – in an apparent attempt to generate a negative perception among communities of exiles from totalitarian regimes like Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua living in South Florida.
González, for his part, ran for office bolstered by the support of prominent politicians within the Republican Party, such as Governor Ron DeSantis and Senators Rick Scott (Florida) and Ted Cruz (Texas), endorsements that earned him the nickname “MAGA Mayor” among Democrats.
Donald Trump’s anti-immigration agenda has hit South Florida communities hard. Miami-Dade residents watched as hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans, including members of their own families, were left in limbo after the government rolled back humanitarian programs and protections that allowed them to live and work legally in the country. They also saw how, in their backyard, they built detention centers for sinisterly named immigrants accused of human rights violations, while raids on workplaces, arrests on highways and in immigration courts intensified, generating a climate of terror in communities.
The political effect was notable and many supported the Republican president in expressing their regret. Dissatisfaction with the tactics of immigration authorities is reflected in polls, where the majority have shown their rejection of the arrest and deportation of immigrants who have not committed any crimes.
In this environment, Higgins knew how to channel discontent and capitalized on this rejection. During his campaign, he openly criticized the president’s “cruel” agenda and presented himself as an alternative sensitive to the plight of the Hispanic community, promoting respect for immigrants. He also said the agreement between Miami police and federal agencies regarding immigrant apprehension, known as 287(g), that the city signed in June was “a mistake” and that he would try to overturn it.
The mayor-elect indicated that the end of temporary protected status for Venezuelans and Haitians poses a danger to the city’s economy, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without work permits, with the corresponding impact on local families and businesses.
He also expressed his rejection of the controversial transfer of sought-after land owned by Miami Dade College in the city center in the state of Florida to build Trump’s presidential library.
The mayor-elect represented Miami-Dade Commission District 5 for seven years, which includes Hispanic-heavy Miami neighborhoods such as Little Havana, Shenandoah and the river area near the city center. She graduated from the University of New Mexico and Cornell and worked as an engineer and marketing manager.
Miami’s local politics has been plagued by corruption scandals and has often been described as a dynasty, as many people from the same families have held similar public offices for years. For example, the incumbent mayor, Francis Suárez, is the son of Xavier Suárez, who served as mayor in the 1980s and 1990s and ran again this year.
13 candidates participated in the race. In the first round, Higgins led with 36% of the vote, followed by González, who received 19. Turnout at the polls was 21%.
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