Higgins and Gonzalez advance to Miami mayor runoff after 13-candidate race

Democratic County Commissioner Eileen Higgins and Republican candidate Emilio González, backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, will advance to a Dec. 9 runoff to determine Miami’s next mayor after no candidate received more than 50% of the vote.

The top two candidates emerged from a crowded field of 13 and will face off to succeed term-limited Republican Mayor Francis Suarez.

If no candidate receives 50% or more of the votes, the top two candidates must compete in a runoff in the race for mayor.

Higgins, the Miami-Dade County commissioner elected in 2018, represents parts of Miami Beach, Downtown, Brickell, Coral Way, Little Havana and West Flagler, according to the county’s website.

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Miami Democrat Higgins is a former engineer, marketing executive and Peace Corps Belize country director, a position she accepted in 2006. She later worked as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department. 

“There’s going to be no drama,” Higgins said during her closing statement at a mayoral debate Oct. 16. “There’s going to be no corruption. There’s going to be no yelling. It’s just me, every day, going to work on your behalf to get things done — the things you’ve told me you want to see happen in this city. The city that you love. The city that I love. The city that should be the best place on earth.”

She campaigned on affordability, restoring trust in Miami City Hall “by cutting red tape that stops homeowners and small businesses from moving forward,” funding police and first responders, improving transportation, and protecting the environment, according to her campaign’s website.

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President Donald Trump, who also is a Florida resident, did not endorse a candidate. 

Although the mayoral race didn’t draw the same national attention as New York or gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, it was marked by past scandals and political jabs from both Democratic and Republican candidates. In September, a Florida judge blocked the city’s plan to delay the November election to 2026 without voter approval, following a lawsuit by mayoral candidate and former City Manager Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, the leading Republican contender, was endorsed by DeSantis and Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott. He previously served as a bilingual surrogate for Trump’s presidential campaign, worked on the president’s transition team and was later named a senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute.

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He campaigned on modernizing city services, cutting property taxes, easing regulations for small businesses, boosting police presence and reducing government spending, according to his campaign’s website.

He said at the mayoral debate Oct. 16, “We need reform and we need reform bad,” after a loss of public trust in local government. 

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“Our municipal government has failed our residents,” he said at the debate. “That’s why we’re here, all of us. We’ve let them down. We’ve left them down and they don’t trust us.”

“Public service and being mayor has to be vocational,” he added. “It isn’t about making money, it isn’t about making my ego bigger, it isn’t about setting me up for another office or clickbait or this or that. It’s vocational, you’ve got to want to do it.” 

The 2025 Miami mayoral race also included former Miami Mayors Joe Carollo and Xavier Suarez, the father of current Mayor Francis Suarez, and Alex Díaz de la Portilla, Christian Cevallos, June Savage, Alyssa Crocker, Elijah John Bowdre, Ken Russell, Laura Anderson, Michael Hepburn and attorney Kenneth James DeSantis, who is not related to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.