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Carl Juste and Al Diaz<\/p>\n
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Miami Herald<\/p>\n
Miami mayoral candidates Eileen Higgins and Emilio Gonz\u00e1lez will face off in a Dec. 9 runoff following Tuesday (Nov. 4, 2025) night’s election results.<\/p>\n
Latino voters heavily swung towards Republicans in 2024. Elections so far this year in other New Jersey and Virginia have shown Latinos swinging back towards Democrats<\/a>, and with Miami being a Hispanic-majority city, many across the nation are closely watching the race.<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of most outsiders looking in at this, their number one question is, ‘Is a Latino vote noticeably going to switch from Republican to Democrat, and if so, how much?’\u201d said Susan MacManus, a distinguished university professor emerita in the Department of Government and International Affairs at the University of South Florida. \u201cThey’ll interpret that to be something to watch in the 2026 election cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n Both candidates have campaigned on a platform of reform in city government at a time when City Hall has been plagued by scandals for years. On issues like transportation, flooding, removing regulations on businesses and homeowners, both candidates are largely on the same page<\/a>.<\/p>\n But the candidates are sharply divided<\/a> on the Trump administration\u2019s aggressive immigration agenda. Gonz\u00e1lez, a former top administrator for United States Citizen and Immigration Services under President George W. Bush, has vocally supported the Trump administration in its broad crackdown that has caught US citizens<\/a> and green card holders<\/a> in the crosshairs. Just last week the Trump administration placed new restrictions on the ability of Cuban and Venezuelan nationals<\/a> \u2014 major constituencies in Miami \u2014 to apply for U.S. citizenship.<\/p>\n Higgins has called the Trump Administration’s broad actions on immigration \u201cimmoral.\u201d<\/p>\n While Higgins\u2019 line garnered applause at a candidate forum, it is unclear which way Miami voters will turn once international affairs and other factors like affordability come into play.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have plenty of evidence of that community being torn between liking the president’s approach on [Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s] Maduro \u2014 wanting him out \u2014 but very mixed feelings about the aggressiveness with which ICE is going into communities,\u201d said MacManus. \u201c\u200aIt’s gonna depend a lot on why people vote.\u201d<\/p>\n The Florida Democratic Party sees the race as a way to build momentum and swagger<\/a> after a series of bruising losses in recent years.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom phone banking to door knocking, we\u2019re putting in the work to reach every voter and make sure they know Democrats are the ones fighting for them. Local races matter and this December, we\u2019re all in,\u201d party chair Nikki Fried said in a statement. \u201cFloridians are tired of the chaos and ready for leaders who show up, listen, and deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n On their side, Republicans have rallied around Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>, holding a \u201cKeep Miami Red\u201d rally at the iconic Cuban restaurant Versailles. Outgoing term-limited mayor Francis Suarez is a Republican, and he briefly ran for president in 2024<\/p>\n Democrat Kamala Harris narrowly beat Republican Trump in the City of Miami during the 2024 presidential election, but Miami-Dade has steadily turned rightward in recent years. Trump won the county by 11 points, becoming the first Republican to do so since 1988.<\/p>\n Polls on Tuesday will be open across the City of Miami at 139 voting locations listed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n