Miami Elects its First Democrat and Woman as Mayor After Three Decades

Eileen Higgins, a former Miami-Dade Commissioner, won the Miami mayoral race as the first woman and Democrat to be elected. The first time it’s been done from the Democrats in 30 years. 

Before becoming mayor, Higgins’ journey began in 2006, starting her role as a Peace Corps director in Belize, according to The Hill. The Hill writes that after that she worked under former President Barack Obama as a foreign service officer. When she was elected Miami-Dade commissioner in 2018, that’s when she entered Florida politics.  

According to the BBC, Higgins won the runoff election by securing 59% of the votes, defeating her Republican opponent, Emilio Gonzalez, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump. Gonzalez had around 49%.  

 According to Politico, Higgins’ campaign should likely be studied. Her campaign consisted of something new other than normal issues. Instead of focusing on social justice and culture war issues, she focused on improving affordability and making the government work better. According to her campaign website and The Hill, she campaigned on “securing a resilient future for our city.” 

Forbes gave a list of the signs that show affordability is becoming a crisis. According to them, food prices increased in 2025, outpacing their 20-year average. In 2022, a typical household spent about 23% of earnings on a median-priced home, but in 2025, that burden increased to 25% and is now at 26%. Electricity and gas bills rose 6.4%, year over year in September. According to Forbes, Family insurance has increased by 6% since last year. Student loan debt has hit a record of 1.81 trillion. A study showed last month that younger adults were falling behind 

USA Today reported that throughout Higgins campaign, she aimed to focus on these local issues and her previous record as a commissioner who helped expand affordable housing and securing funding for expansions of two rapid transit lines.  

The Hill writes that Higgins plans to invest in upgrading existing trolleys, mapping out expanded routes and helping residents connect with “on demand transit services to get people moving.” She also campaigns to fix the permitting process to get the government moving for small businesses and homeowners, protecting tax dollars, and make City Hall work to build safer neighborhoods, according to The Hill.  

Politico writes that republicans had tempered responses to the lost. Republican Party of Florida Chair Evan Powers responded to the election, saying, “Democrats have to live somewhere, as much as we prefer, they don’t.”  

Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried says to Politico that Gonzalez had the involvement of President Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis and “every statewide elected Republican got involved in this election.” She told Politico that the republicans blowing off this election is going to be the reason Democrats will achieve some big wins.  

Gonzalez and Higgins showed each other a nice level of respect. According to Politico, Gonzalez says that they are turning into a new page. They didn’t throw insults at each other and “no one was throwing rocks and bottles at each other.”  

According to The Hill, Higgins received a lot of support from other Democrats, all excited to see what Higgins has planned for Miami. The Hill wrote that, David Jolly, a democratic candidate for Floridia governor and former republican house representative, wrote on X: “Change is here and there’s a brighter future waiting for Florida!”