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<\/a>Eileen Higgins highlighted her background in international relations and industry, and her service at County Hall, during her campaign for Mayor. Image via Eileen Higgins.<\/p>\nHiggins, a 61-year-old Democrat who was born in Ohio and grew up in New Mexico, entered the race as the longest-serving current member of the Miami-Dade Commission. She won her seat in a 2018 Special Election and\u00a0coasted back into re-election unopposed<\/a>\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n She chose to vacate her seat three years early to run for Mayor.<\/p>\n Higgins boasted a broad, international background in government service. She worked for years in the private sector, overseeing global manufacturing in Europe and Latin America before returning stateside to lead marketing for companies like Pfizer and Jose Cuervo.<\/p>\n In 2006, she took a Director job with the Peace Corps in Belize, after which she served as a foreign service officer for the U.S. State Department under President\u00a0Barack Obama, working in Mexico and in economic development areas in South Africa.<\/p>\n Her campaign platform for Mayor prioritized restoring trust in City Hall by fixing Miami\u2019s permitting process and boosting government efficiency, improving affordability, advocating for police and first responders, enhancing transportation connectivity and efficiency, and shoring up the city\u2019s resiliency against climate change effects.<\/p>\n Since filing in April, Higgins raised $193,500 through her campaign account. She also amassed close to $658,000 through her county-level political committee,\u00a0Ethical Leadership for Miami<\/a>. Close to a third of that sum \u2014 $175,000 \u2014 came through a transfer from her\u00a0state-level PC<\/a>.<\/p>\n She also spent $719,000.<\/p>\n Her endorsers include Miami-Dade Mayor\u00a0Daniella Levine Cava, Miami Gardens Sen.\u00a0Shevrin Jones, Miami Rep.\u00a0Ashley Gantt\u00a0and South Miami Mayor\u00a0Javier Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n Union and advocacy groups backing her include\u00a0UNITE HERE Local 355<\/a>,\u00a0SAVE Action PAC<\/a>,\u00a0LiUNA Local 1652<\/a>,\u00a0SEIU 32BJ<\/a>,\u00a0Equality Florida Action PAC<\/a>,\u00a0EMILY\u2019s List<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ruth\u2019s List Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n If elected, Higgins would make history as Miami\u2019s first woman Mayor.<\/p>\n Gonz\u00e1lez, a 68-year-old born in Cuba, brought the most robust government background to the race. A U.S. Army veteran who rose to the rank of colonel, he served as Miami City Manager from 2017 to 2020, CEO of Miami International Airport (MIA<\/a>) from 2013 to 2017 and as Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under President\u00a0George W. Bush.<\/p>\n In private life, he works as a partner at investment management firm RSMD Investco LLC. He also serves as a member of the Treasury Investment Council under the Florida Department of Financial Services.<\/p>\n Since filing to run for Mayor in April, he raised more than $1.12 million and spent about $929,000.<\/p>\n He also amassed several high-profile endorsements, including nods from Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis, U.S. Sens.\u00a0Ted Cruz\u00a0and\u00a0Rick Scott,\u00a011 former<\/a>\u00a0police officials<\/a>, former Miami Director of Human Services\u00a0Milton Vickers<\/a>, mixed martial arts star\u00a0Jorge Masvidal<\/a>, and Emmy award-winning reporter\u00a0Michael Putney<\/a>.<\/p>\n MIA workers union\u00a0AFSCME Local 1542<\/a>, construction trade group\u00a0Associated Builders and Contractors<\/a>,\u00a0Miami Young Republicans<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Log Cabin Republicans of Miami<\/a>, among others, also backed him.<\/p>\n Gonz\u00e1lez\u00a0vowed, if elected, to work on rolling back property tax rates, establishing a \u201cDeregulation Task Force\u201d to unburden small businesses, prioritizing capital investments that protect Miamians, increasing the city\u2019s police force, modernizing Miami services with technology and a customer-friendly approach, and rein in government spending and growth.<\/p>\n Notably, Miami\u2019s Nov. 4 election this year might not have taken place if not for Gonz\u00e1lez, who\u00a0successfully<\/a>\u00a0sued<\/a> in July to stop officials from delaying its election until 2026.<\/p>\n In terms of fundraising might and government experience in Miami, few could rival Carollo, the city\u2019s term-limited District 3 Commissioner, who previously served two separate stints as Mayor.<\/p>\n Since filing to run for Mayor in September, he raised $48,550 through his campaign account and more than $686,000 this year through his political committee,\u00a0Miami First<\/a>. He also had another $1.84 million in carryover funds he still had in the PC.<\/p>\n Through early October this year, Carollo spent more than $558,000 on various campaign and political expenditures.<\/p>\n Carollo, 70, ran on a promise to improve public safety and government accountability, restore public spaces, attract entrepreneurs and \u201cworld-class investment\u201d to Miami, boost opportunities through education and protect local \u201cheritage\u201d by prioritizing residents, small businesses and \u201cstrengthening neighborhood identity.\u201d<\/p>\n Few in Florida Politics have Carollo\u2019s staying power or as controversial a track record. He entered government service early as a police officer and cut his political teeth as a young adult\u00a0backing segregationist<\/a>\u00a0Alabama Gov.\u00a0George Wallace\u2019s\u00a01976 campaign for President.<\/p>\n Carollo said he was attracted to Wallace\u2019s populist, small-government message, not his racist views. In 1979, he was reprimanded for slipping a drawing of a Ku Klux Klan member into a mailbox of a fellow Black police officer \u2014 a prank, he said.<\/p>\n That same year, he became the Miami Commission\u2019s youngest member at 24 and almost immediately began clashing with the city\u2019s then-Police Chief, who\u00a0accused him<\/a>\u00a0of inappropriate and allegedly unlawful acts, including bribing cops seeking police favors for friends.<\/p>\n In 2001, he was arrested on charges of domestic violence after he allegedly\u00a0hit his then-wife in the head<\/a>\u00a0with a pot. The charges were ultimately dropped.<\/p>\n Twenty years later, after the city\u2019s then-Police Chief\u00a0Art Acevedo\u00a0accused Carollo, D\u00edaz de la Portilla and late Commissioner\u00a0Manolo Reyes\u00a0of repeatedly interfering with Miami Police Department affairs, Carollo\u00a0led a successful charge<\/a>\u00a0to oust Acevedo that included showing a clip of the lawman impersonating\u00a0Elvis Presley\u00a0in tight pants.<\/p>\n Then, in 2023, two businessmen\u00a0successfully sued<\/a>\u00a0Carollo for violating their First Amendment rights by weaponizing city resources to harass them after they backed his political opponent.\u00a0An appellate court upheld the judgment this past July.<\/p>\n Last year, an insurer for Miami\u00a0sued the city<\/a>\u00a0seeking a refund of legal costs incurred defending Carollo against numerous lawsuits since 2018. The case is not yet closed, according to the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida.<\/p>\n Suarez, a 76-year-old lawyer with no party affiliation, made history in 1985 as Miami\u2019s first Cuban-born Mayor. His son is the current Mayor.<\/p>\n He previously served as a Miami-Dade County Commissioner from 2011 to 2020 and left office after new term limit rules kicked in.<\/p>\n He said that if re-elected Mayor this year, he\u2019d tackle property tax reform, including supporting Miami Rep.\u00a0Vicki Lopez\u2019s\u00a0proposal to exempt all Miami-Dade residents whose homes don\u2019t exceed the county\u2019s median value ($575,000, on average) from paying property taxes.<\/p>\n Suarez proposed making mass transit in Miami free and promised to work with state lawmakers further to reform the \u201centire system of casualty insurance, beginning by having the state take over catastrophic insurance for all new affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n He also backed\u00a0proposed charter amendments<\/a>\u00a0to expand the Miami Commission from five to nine seats and align city elections with federal races.<\/p>\n Since filing in July, Suarez raised about $18,000 through his campaign account.\u00a0Imagine Miami PAC<\/a>, which he launched in mid-January, raised another $266,000 of which it has since spent $184,000, leaving him with about $82,000 about a month before Election Day.<\/p>\n Russell, a 52-year-old Democrat born in Coral Gables and raised in and around Miami, sought a comeback after three years away from elected office.<\/p>\n He served as Miami\u2019s District 2 Commissioner from 2015 to 2022, when he\u00a0ran unsuccessfully<\/a>\u00a0for Congress. As a city policymaker, Russell prioritized affordable housing and environmental protection.<\/p>\n As a day job, Russell owns and operates a Miami-based\u00a0strategic consulting firm<\/a>\u00a0focused on environment, government, housing and transit. He previously owned a company that sold water sports gear and a seasonal woodworking business.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also a former yo-yo champion with a\u00a0penchant for going viral<\/a>\u00a0on social media.<\/p>\n Since filing for the race in March, he\u2019s raised and spent about $143,000, practically all of which he spent by the end of October.<\/p>\n Russell\u2019s endorsers included Fort Lauderdale Mayor\u00a0Dean Trantalis, former Pinecrest Mayor\u00a0Cindy Lerner, former South Miami Mayor\u00a0Phil Stoddard, retired Miami-Dade County Schools Administrator\u00a0Freddie Young, NBA champion and philanthropist\u00a0Udonis Haslem\u00a0and historian, author and filmmaker\u00a0Marvin Dunn.<\/p>\n VoteWater<\/a>, a nonpartisan Florida-based group that supports \u201cclean-water candidates,\u201d backed him too.<\/p>\n D\u00edaz de la Portilla, a 61-year-old Republican who was born in Miami, is part of a political family dynasty. Several men in his family, including his great-grandfather, served in the Cuban government, including the Cuban Senate, House and as the country\u2019s Minister of Justice.<\/p>\n He and his brothers,\u00a0Miguel\u00a0and\u00a0Renier,\u00a0carried on that tradition, serving in various county and state offices.<\/p>\n D\u00edaz de la Portilla served in both the state Senate and House, including stints as Senate Majority Leader and President Pro Tempore, before winning a seat on the Miami Commission in 2019. In 2023, DeSantis\u00a0suspended him from office<\/a>\u00a0after he was arrested on a host of corruption charges, including bribery, money laundering and criminal conspiracy \u2014 all of which the Broward State Attorney\u2019s Office\u00a0dropped<\/a>\u00a0just over a year later, citing inconsistent witness testimony and insufficient evidence.<\/p>\n This cycle, D\u00edaz de la Portilla raised close to $153,000 through his campaign account. He also raised \u00a0$278,000 and spent $369,000 this year through his political committee,\u00a0Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade County PC<\/a>, which had a little less than $60,000 left in it by Sept. 30.<\/p>\n Curiously, D\u00edaz de la Portilla chose not to have a campaign website. He also kept mostly offline since June.<\/p>\n Other candidates running included Republicans\u00a0Christian Cevallos,\u00a0Alyssa Crocker\u00a0and\u00a0June Savage; Democrats\u00a0Elijah Bowdre\u00a0and\u00a0Michael Hepburn; and\u00a0Laura Anderson\u00a0and\u00a0Kenneth \u201cK.J.\u201d DeSantis, who have no party affiliation.<\/p>\n<\/a>If not for Emilio Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s actions in court, the Miami election might not have even happened this year. Image via X.<\/p>\n<\/a>Joe Carollo wanted his old Mayor job back after eight years on the City Commission. Image via Miami.<\/p>\n<\/a>Xavier Suarez was the oldest candidate running for Mayor, but he held it up as an asset, citing his experience as Mayor and service as a Miami-Dade Commissioner. Image via Xavier Suarez.<\/p>\n<\/a>Ken Russell may have been away from the spotlight awhile, but his policy priorities remained the same: Miami\u2019s affordability issues need fixing, and the rising sea levels around it can\u2019t be ignored. Image via Ken Russell.<\/p>\n<\/a>Alex D\u00edaz de la Portilla said he lost his City Commission seat in 2023 after \u201cpolitical rivals and the fake media weaponized the legal system\u201d against him. Image via AP.<\/p>\n