Miami voters elected Eileen Higgins as mayor in a rout on Tuesday, choosing a Democrat to lead the city for the first time in almost 30 years in a race that Democrats hope sets a precedent for the 2026 midterms.
Ms. Higgins, 61, will become Miami’s first female mayor and its first non-Hispanic mayor since the 1990s. Cuban American Republicans have dominated city politics over the past three decades.
“Together, we turned the page on years of chaos and corruption and opened the door to a new era for our city — one defined by ethical, accountable leadership that delivers real results for the people,” Ms. Higgins said in a statement declaring victory, promising to lead a government “that finally earns the public’s trust.”
Voters signaled a desire for change in the first round of the election in November, sending Ms. Higgins, a former Miami-Dade County commissioner, and Emilio T. González, a former Miami city manager, to Tuesday’s runoff. Both candidates campaigned on good-government platforms following years of corruption scandals in a city controlled by political dynasties. Mr. González publicly conceded on Tuesday evening, as unofficial results from the county elections supervisor showed Ms. Higgins leading by 18 percentage points.
The outgoing mayor, Francis X. Suarez, who briefly ran for president in 2024, is term-limited.
Mr. González said in an interview that he was proud of building a grass-roots campaign of volunteers after starting from scratch as a first-time candidate. “I don’t regret a thing,” he said, adding that he had called Ms. Higgins and wished her the best as mayor.
There might not have been an election this year without him; he won a lawsuit against the city after Mayor Suarez and several commissioners tried to postpone the mayoral election to November 2026. The move earned Mr. González considerable good will from voters, though Ms. Higgins easily came first last month.
Though Miami elections are technically nonpartisan, both major political parties were involved in the campaign. President Trump endorsed Mr. González, and the Democratic National Committee helped Ms. Higgins. National Democrats flew in to campaign with her over the past few days, a striking development for a low-turnout, off-year local election. Fewer than 37,000 votes were cast in the runoff.
Miami, a city of about half a million people, is Florida’s second largest by population, after Jacksonville. Like the state, Miami has become more Republican over the past few election cycles, making a Democratic victory all the more striking.
While Democrats slightly outnumber Republicans in the city by voter registration, Republicans have excelled at getting more of their voters to the polls. This year’s election broke that pattern, which Democrats see as an indicator of rising discontent with Mr. Trump and his party.
Though local elections can be imperfect in measuring the national mood or predicting whether congressional districts might also flip, national Democrats were quick to celebrate Ms. Higgins’s resounding win. Hakeem Jeffries, the U.S. House minority leader, wrote on X that the party is “coming for the three South Florida Republicans next.”
Until recently, Ms. Higgins, a mechanical engineer by training and a former Peace Corps director in Belize, represented what she characterized as a Republican-leaning district on the county commission. She was first elected in 2018 after introducing herself to voters as “La Gringa.” Her blowout victory on Tuesday showed that she had built a diverse coalition of voters that crossed ethnicities and party lines.
Ms. Higgins’s focus on competence and experience mirrored the campaign priorities of Daniella Levine Cava, a fellow non-Hispanic Democrat who became Miami-Dade County’s first female mayor in 2020. Ms. Levine Cava was re-elected last year.
The two women had the same political consultant, and Ms. Levine Cava, who remains popular, endorsed Ms. Higgins.
Ms. Higgins has promised to focus on solving residents’ problems if elected.
“I’m a proud Democrat, but I serve them,” she said of the broader electorate at a campaign stop last week. “If their streets are flooded, I want public works projects that stop that flooding. If they need affordable housing, I don’t ask what political party they are before we let them take over an apartment. They’re in need.”
David C. Adams contributed reporting from Miami.
Patricia Mazzei is the lead reporter for The Times in Miami, covering Florida and Puerto Rico.
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