Democrat Eileen Higgins is projected to win a runoff for the Miami mayor’s office, delivering yet another decisive rebuke of President Donald Trump.
As of Tuesday evening, Higgins, a county commissioner, had secured 59% of the vote and was poised to defeat Republican-backed Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager.
While the race was technically nonpartisan, prominent Democrats, including former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), had weighed in to back Higgins. At the same time, Republicans, including President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, had done the same for Gonzalez.
Higgins’s win is a major boost for Democrats, given the gains that Trump made in Miami-Dade County during his 2024 run against former Vice President Kamala Harris. Last year, Trump won 55% of the county’s votes after winning just 46% in 2020.
Higgins will also be the first Democrat — and first non-Hispanic person — to hold the city’s mayoral office in roughly 30 years.
Eileen Higgins speaks with supporters before canvassing a neighborhood for votes on Dec. 8, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle via Getty Images
Her victory adds to other successes that Democrats have seen in places like Virginia and New Jersey in 2025, and further bolsters the party’s momentum going into next year’s midterms.
It also points to solid support for Democrats from Latino voters, who comprise 64% of the electorate in Miami-Dade County. That’s significant, given the inroads Trump had made with Latino voters in the region in 2024.
Higgins’s campaign addressed both local issues, including affordable housing, and national ones, such as the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
“What I will tell our congressional delegation and every person serving in Congress and the Senate is this immigration, these tactics, they’re not only cruel, I grew up Catholic, I think they’re also sinful,” she told CBS News.