Eileen Higgins has been elected as Miami’s newest mayor, becoming the first Democrat to win the seat in 30 years, as Republicans continue to suffer in off-season elections during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Higgins, who will also be the first woman to lead the city, secured a nearly 20-point advantage against Trump-endorsed Emilio González, signaling a potential shakeup for the 2026 midterm elections.
“Miami chose a new direction,” Higgins said during her victory speech. “You chose competence over chaos, results over excuses, and a city government that finally works for you.”
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Miami mayoral elections are technically nonpartisan, but this year’s race was steeped in national party politics as González also secured endorsements from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Higgins was endorsed by former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson and joined by Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona at local polling sites this past weekend.
Historically, the president’s political party loses seats or power during the midterm elections. But Republicans are particularly worried about holding onto their narrow control of the House, where they currently have 220 of the 435 seats. Many Republicans, including Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elise Stefanik, Troy Nehls, and Jodey Arrington, among others, have announced that they will not seek re-election.
Here’s what to know about Higgins and what her victory means for the Democratic Party and the country.
Who is Eileen Higgins?
Higgins has a history of public service, most recently serving as Miami-Dade’s county commissioner for District 5 since 2018.
The 61-year-old is an engineer by trade, earning a mechanical engineering degree from the University of New Mexico before getting her MBA at Cornell in the late ‘80s, according to her LinkedIn.
Later, Higgins worked as a Peace Corps director in Belize before becoming a foreign service officer at the State Department from 2009 to 2012, serving as a staff aide to the ambassador to Mexico, and economic and energy officer for South Africa and Namibia.
How did Higgins win?
Miami’s mayoral candidates have both commented on the nonpartisanship of the race and said they don’t see it as a “referendum” on the president, according to the New York Times.
But both parties poured significant funds and organizing efforts into the race. In November, the Democratic National Committee—which typically does not get involved in local mayoral races—said that it would host a virtual phone bank and recruit bilingual volunteers to support Higgins after Trump endorsed González.
“Between now and Election Day, the DNC is all-in to elect Eileen Higgins and ensure Miami families have a champion who is fighting for them, not Donald Trump,” said DNC Chairman Ken Martin.
Throughout her campaign, Higgins highlighted her efforts to build affordable housing units, expand transit, and create green spaces for the city. She also committed to investing millions to help small businesses and “restoring trust” in city hall after numerous city officials were embroiled in corruption and potential internal misuse of power scandals. She relied on the support of campaign manager Christian Ulvert, who helped Democrat Levine Cava similarly win his 2020 race for county mayor against a Republican, according to the Miami Herald.
Higgins also responded to Miami voters’ concerns about the Trump Administration’s increasingly unpopular immigration crackdown. Higgins told the Times that residents of Miami—a Hispanic-majority city made up of immigrants from Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, to name a few—have told her that they are worried about immigration enforcement impacting their families or tariffs hitting the bottom line of their businesses. “There’s a level of fear, and I have never experienced that before,” Higgins said.
Trump promised to launch the largest deportation campaign in the country’s history, vowing to go after “the worst of the worst.” But an analysis of recent ICE data shows that more than half of the immigration arrests made in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Massachusetts were of immigrants with no criminal record.
Earlier this year, the Trump Administration moved to revoke the parole status of more than 530,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The move was contested in court, though the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned a lower court order that would have prevented the Department of Homeland Security from terminating benefits for parolees.
What does this mean for Democrats nationwide?
The win is promising for Democrats who have struggled to win races in Florida in particular, where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 1.4 million registered voters.
“Tonight’s victory shows that the pendulum is swinging in our favor and that when we commit to relentless, year-round organizing and invest in a long-term strategic field program, we can, in fact, win,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried told Politico in a statement.
The President won Miami-Dade County by 11 points during the 2024 presidential election. His popularity in Miami itself is much narrower, earning 49% of the vote last year. There are more than 61,000 registered Democrats in the city compared to 53,000 Republicans, per data from the Miami-Dade Elections Department. Another 55,000 people are unaffiliated voters.
Higgins’ 20-point margin of victory suggests a significant swing towards Democrats, even if the race is officially non-partisan, a pattern seen across the country.
Democrats secured a wave of wins this year in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, as well as in other smaller races for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Georgia’s public utility regulator, outperforming in races where Trump won last year.
Miami has a mixed history regarding the mayor’s party identity. Former Miami Mayor Manuel “Manny” Diaz, who ran as an independent but was a registered Democrat before and after his term, and went on to serve as the party’s state chairman, served a two-term tenure from 2001 to 2009.
