A year ago, we were told the Democratic Party in Miami-Dade was finished. Instead of accepting that narrative, Miami-Dade Democrats did something different: we listened, we rebuilt, and we organized.
We began by listening to voters across the county. We made fundamental changes in leadership and organizational structure. We took an honest look at how, and whether, we were showing up for our communities. And we recommitted ourselves to organizing principles rooted in empowerment, engagement, and trust. The landslide victories in Miami and Miami Beach did not happen by accident. They were the result of deliberate, sustained investment in municipal elections and year-round infrastructure.
Last week’s historic wins can be attributed to many factors: shifting voter attitudes; the disciplined, professional campaigns run by Mayor-elect Eileen Higgins and Commissioner Monica Matteo-Salinas; renewed confidence in the Miami-Dade Democratic Party; and strategic support from the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee. But none of that happens in a vacuum. It required focused, coordinated work by the Miami-Dade Democratic Party alongside volunteers, organizers, and community leaders who were ready to meet the moment.
Over the past year, we made more than 300,000 calls to restore voters to the vote-by-mail rolls. Since Nov. 1 alone, we made an additional 163,000 get-out-the-vote calls. We supported candidates with earned and paid media, voter education, and coordinated messaging. We partnered on hundreds of canvassing shifts and assisted campaigns up and down the ballot with ads and texts generating millions of impressions. We ran targeted digital campaigns that reached more than 70,000 voters with information about candidates, issues, early voting, and vote-by-mail chasing. That is infrastructure. And infrastructure wins elections.
These victories are not flukes, nor are they confined to a single election cycle. They are proof that when Democrats organize year-round, center on the real economic concerns of voters, and remain rooted in community, we can win even in places long written off as unreachable.
This election produced truly historic results. Mayor-elect Eileen Higgins became the first woman ever elected as mayor of Miami, and the first Democrat to hold the office since the 1990s. In Miami Beach, Commissioner Monica Matteo-Salinas won her race with 71 percent of the vote, defeating her opponent by a staggering 42-point margin. These wins matter not only for Miami and Miami Beach, but for communities across Miami-Dade County and beyond.
Mayor-elect Higgins won because she spoke directly to what voters are experiencing every day. Her campaign focused on restoring trust in Miami’s government, addressing the housing affordability crisis, making neighborhoods safer for every resident, and protecting families and small businesses from the economic instability fueled by the policies being pushed by President Donald Trump and his Republican enablers. These priorities didn’t come from a single campaign. Instead, they emerged from years of listening, organizing, and consistent engagement supported by the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. Our members dedicated countless hours over recent months to rebuilding infrastructure and providing the organizational support campaigns need to succeed.
For too long, Democrats were told that Miami-Dade voters cared only about personalities or partisan labels. We rejected that assumption. Instead, we centered on affordability, wages, housing costs, immigrant rights, and economic stability. We met voters where they were — at their doors, on their phones, online, and at community events — and spoke honestly about how rising rents, insurance costs, and economic uncertainty are hurting families and small businesses alike.
Just as importantly, we stayed engaged all year, not just in the final weeks before ballots dropped. Trust is built through consistency: by showing up when there’s no immediate political payoff and proving that Democrats don’t disappear after Election Day.
These victories carry national implications as well. By flipping a seat held by Republicans for more than 28 years, Mayor-elect Higgins’ win sends a clear message: Miami-Dade and Florida are not the Trump-supporting strongholds his allies hope to rely on in future elections. The idea that 2024 represented a permanent realignment is wishful thinking, not reality.
Looking ahead, we are not slowing down. We have 11 months until the next general election and just eight until primaries and county races. The Miami-Dade Democratic Party is already building the infrastructure needed to give every Democrat a real chance to win.
Fundamentally, voters are exhausted. They are tired of the Trump-created chaos: economic uncertainty, skyrocketing costs, and mass, indiscriminate deportations. They are tired of congressional enablers like Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez, and Mario Díaz-Balart who continue to use disingenuous rhetoric that merely pays lip service to voters’ suffering. That is why it is more critical than ever to elect Democratic leaders committed to solving the affordability crisis, upholding our laws and Constitution, and serving the people, not special interests.
Miami and Miami Beach’s success wasn’t accidental. It was organized. It was sustained. And we are just getting started.
Laura Kelley is chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. She is an immigration attorney and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
(Miami-Dade Democratic Party)