Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner is keeping his job for another term.
With 20 of 21 precincts reporting, Meiner had 51.8% of the vote to defeat his lone challenger, Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, and secure two more years as the city’s most prominent elected official.
As of 7:30 p.m., 489 votes separated the candidates.
Voters in Miami Beach headed to the polls well-acquainted with the two mayoral candidates. Meiner, a former federal government lawyer and ex-Commissioner, has held elected office in the city for the better part of a decade. Rosen Gonzalez, a sitting Commissioner, Miami Dade College professor and longtime preservation advocate, served on the dais from 2015 to 2018 and again since 2021.
Each brought distinct voices to the contest.
Both supported the city’s 2023 homelessness ordinance that allows police to arrest people sleeping in public after shelter offers are refused. Both wanted a long-floated water taxi link between Miami and Miami Beach.
But the two sparred over crime statistics. Meiner cited mid-year police data showing overall crime down and a successful prosecution rate of 92% since 2022.
Rosen Gonzalez insisted aggravated assaults were still up.
Meiner ran on a platform of “law and order” highlighting his crackdown on Spring Break mayhem, work to reduce recidivism by successfully prosecuting criminals and efforts to keep flood control projects on track.
He’s also touted a recent property tax rollback that he calls proof of fiscal discipline.
“My commitment remains to make Miami Beach the best and safest city in America,” he said in an Oct. 10 campaign video. “Major crimes are down 15.5% across Miami Beach. This represents real improvement for your daily safety and peace of mind.”
Rosen Gonzalez said Meiner’s clampdowns on disruptions during Spring Break and other high-traffic periods drove away tourists and small businesses. She told Local 10 last month that year over year, Miami Beach was down $4 million in tourism tax revenue, representing $100 million in economic activity.
“We told the entire world not to come to Miami Beach,” she told WSVN. “But we’ve never really told them to come back.”
Accordingly, Rosen Gonzalez’s platform centered on reviving tourism. She also vowed to cut red tape for local businesses, foster more affordable housing and improve the city’s transit provisions.
(L-R) Steven Meiner and Kristen Rosen Gonzalez. Images via the candidates.
Each candidate faced controversy, though one saw trouble far more recently.
Meiner drew national criticism in March for trying to evict a nonprofit theater in the city after it screened the Oscar-winning documentary about the Israel-Palestine conflict, “No Other Land,” which he called antisemitic and a public safety issue.
He ultimately withdrew the measure.
He also entered Election Day battling a lawsuit an anti-Israel Jewish activist group filed against Miami Beach and its officials alleging he stifled pro-Palestinian protests.
Last year, he resigned from his job as a lawyer for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission amid an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against.
Rosen Gonzalez, meanwhile, has been the subject of five ethics complaints that led to no findings against her and faced a sexually charged defamation lawsuit that her insurer has since settled.
She also carried a history of headline-grabbing moments, including comparing a former Mayor to Vladimir Putin and falsely calling herself Hispanic.
Notably, those issues happened years ago. Rosen Gonzalez told the Miami Herald that she is “wiser” and more collaborative now.
A poll Plantation-based MDW Communications conducted in May, before Meiner formally entered the race, showed Rosen Gonzalez leading Meiner by 6 percentage points, though more than a third of respondents reported being undecided in the contest.
Meiner, a 54-year-old with no party affiliation, carried endorsements from outgoing Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Sunny Isles Mayor Laura Svechin, Miami Beach Commissioners Joe Magazine and David Suarez, and former Miami Beach Mayors Dan Gelber and Philip Levine.
He also had support from the Miami Beach Fraternal Order of Police and Miami Beach firefighters union IAFF Local 1510.
Rosen Gonzalez, a 52-year-old Democrat, had endorsements from Bower, LGBTQ advocacy group SAVE Action PAC and several unions, including AFSCME Florida, GSAF Local 100 and UNITE HERE Local 355.
In terms of fundraising, Rosen Gonzalez was the front-runner. Her campaign account reported raising $158,000 and $6,500 worth of in-kind contributions.
The nearly $156,000 she spent through Oct. 3 was about $36,500 more than Meiner reported raising altogether. He spent $93,500 by the end of last month.
Miami Beach’s elections are nonpartisan, but party politics frequently factor into races.