Former City Manager Emilo Gonz\u00e1lez just added another U.S. Senator to the growing list of notable political figures backing his campaign for Miami Mayor.<\/p>\n
This time it\u2019s U.S. Sen Ted Cruz of Texas, a fellow Republican and Cuban American who emphasized Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s heritage and commitment to public service as key to earning his support.<\/p>\n
Cruz called Gonz\u00e1lez a \u201cdear friend\u201d and said it is an honor to endorse him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what freedom means to families like ours \u2014 and Emilio embodies that same spirit of sacrifice, resilience, and love of country,\u201d Cruz said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cA decorated Army colonel with decades of service in intelligence and diplomacy, he understands what it means to fight for liberty both abroad and here at home. Miami deserves a leader who will honor its proud Cuban-American story and defend the values that make this city and this nation great.\u201d<\/p>\n
The nod from Cruz comes less than a week after U.S. Sen. Rick Scott<\/a>, Florida\u2019s immediate past Governor, endorsed Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n Others backing Gonz\u00e1lez include\u00a011 former<\/a>\u00a0police officials<\/a>, former Miami Director of Human Services\u00a0Milton Vickers<\/a>, mixed martial arts star\u00a0Jorge Masvidal<\/a>\u00a0and Emmy Award-winning reporter\u00a0Michael Putney<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n Miami International Airport (MIA<\/a>) workers union\u00a0AFSCME Local 1542<\/a>, construction trade group\u00a0Associated Builders and Contractors<\/a>, the\u00a0Miami Young Republicans<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Log Cabin Republicans<\/a>\u00a0of Miami have also endorsed Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n Gonz\u00e1lez said he is \u201cdeeply honored\u201d to have Cruz\u2019s backing.<\/p>\n \u201cOur families\u2019 journeys are woven into the fabric of this city \u2014 from exile to opportunity. But endorsements are words until they are matched with action,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cI will earn every vote by delivering real results: accountability in government, safety in every neighborhood, and opportunity for every child in Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n Gonz\u00e1lez is a U.S. Army veteran who rose to the rank of colonel and served as Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under President\u00a0George W. Bush.<\/p>\n He also worked as CEO of MIA from 2013 to 2017 and as Miami City Manager from 2017 to 2020.<\/p>\n He currently holds several professional and appointed roles, as listed on his\u00a0LinkedIn profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gonz\u00e1lez\u00a0successfully sued<\/a>\u00a0Miami in July to stop officials, including Mayor\u00a0Francis Suarez, from delaying the city\u2019s election by a year, to November 2026. An appellate court then\u00a0upheld the decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n He is one of\u00a013 candidates<\/a>\u00a0who qualified for the Mayor\u2019s race. In an\u00a0X post<\/a>\u00a0Monday, Gonz\u00e1lez said the top issue for residents this cycle is \u201cending corruption\u201d at City Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cResidents are tired of the circus,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe are better than what we have now. Let\u2019s not settle for mediocrity.\u201d<\/p>\n Other Republicans running include Miami Commissioner\u00a0Joe Carollo, former Miami Commissioner\u00a0Alex D\u00edaz de la Portilla,\u00a0Christian Cevallos,\u00a0Alyssa Crocker\u00a0and\u00a0June Savage.<\/p>\n Democrats running include Miami-Dade Commissioner\u00a0Eileen Higgins, former Miami Commissioner\u00a0Ken Russell,\u00a0Ellijah Bowdre\u00a0and\u00a0Michael Hepburn.<\/p>\n Laura Anderson,\u00a0Kenneth DeSantis\u00a0and former Miami Mayor\u00a0Xavier Suarez, who previously served as a Miami-Dade Commissioner and is the current Mayor\u2019s father, have no party affiliation.<\/p>\n The Miami Mayor\u2019s race is technically nonpartisan.<\/p>\n Miami\u2019s General Election is Nov. 4. If no mayoral candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will compete in a runoff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former City Manager Emilo Gonz\u00e1lez just added another U.S. Senator to the growing list of notable political figures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3675,4077,123,125,3677,124,4078],"class_list":{"0":"post-3478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-election-2025","9":"tag-emilio-gonzalez","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-headlines","12":"tag-miami-mayor","13":"tag-miami-news","14":"tag-ted-cruz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}