Democrat Eileen Higgins won the Miami mayor’s race on Tuesday, defeating a Republican endorsed by Donald Trump to end her party’s nearly three-decade losing streak and give Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Higgins, 61, will be the first woman to lead the city of Miami. She spoke frequently in the Hispanic-majority city about Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying she has heard of many people in Miami who were worried about family members being detained. She campaigned as a proud Democrat despite the race being officially nonpartisan and beat Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager, who said he called Higgins to congratulate her.
“We are facing rhetoric from elected officials that is so dehumanizing and cruel, especially against immigrant populations,” Higgins told The Associated Press after her victory speech. “The residents of Miami were ready to be done with that.”
DiSantis has been running a heavy pressure campaign on the Democratic politicians in the blue stronghold of Central Florida. Now he'll have to fight on two fronts.
A Dem winning in South Florida is HUGE, the Republicans always had the Cubans reliably locked up, but this demonstrates that the Cubans aren't seeing this administration as Republican friends, they're seeing them as MAGA enemies.
Despite that, Florida will remain safely Red for a long time. MAGA has a strong lead in registered voters, and they still are in full control of most up the peninsula, and all of the Panhandle and North Florida.