Miami residents will find out Tuesday if they’ll have their first Democratic mayor in nearly three decades. The election has drawn national attention as the latest test of the nation’s political mood one year into President Donald Trump’s second term.
Big-name politicians have backed candidates from both sides of the aisle, with Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis backing the Republican candidate, Emilio González, the former city manager.
Meanwhile, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg offered support for Democratic candidate Eileen Higgins, who previously served on the Miami-Dade County commission before winning a runoff spot in November.
Republican hopes
For Republicans, a win in Miami could give the party a burst of momentum heading into the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats claimed victory in multiple closely watched races in November and came close to flipping a deep-red Tennessee congressional district in a special election last week.
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Miami has become increasingly Republican and is even the site of Trump’s planned presidential library. In 2022, Republicans DeSantis and then-Sen. Marco Rubio won big in Miami-Dade, breaking a longtime Democratic stronghold.
Breaking the Republicans’ grip on power
Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping to continue the momentum they gained from 2025 wins in New York City, New Jersey and Virginia. A win in Miami could be significant, given it’s the state’s second most populous city behind Jacksonville.
It’s also the epicenter of the state’s diverse culture and a major tourist destination, giving Miami’s mayor a large political platform. If elected, Higgins would be the first Democratic mayor in nearly 30 years.
The election cycle so far
Tuesday’s runoff election follows the Nov. 4 election, in which no candidate reached the required threshold to win the election. Higgins secured 36% of the vote, and González earned 19%. Another Democrat, Ken Russell, came in third, with ten other candidates behind him. Russell endorsed Higgins in the runoff.
Both Higgins and González have said they would not govern in a partisan way, according to The New York Times. Higgins has focused her platform on street flooding and the lack of affordable housing, while González is running on overdevelopment and property taxes.
And while both Democrats and Republicans are adding weight to this election, political strategists from both parties told The Times that residents should not read too much into Tuesday’s results.
They noted that a Higgins win would be an unquestionable credit to Democrats, but it does not necessarily indicate that local congressional districts will flip to Democrats next year.
