For the first time since 2001, the race for City of Miami mayor is set to enter into a runoff election, with the top two candidates out of a pack of 13 set to face off on December 9.
The runoff is between Eileen Higgins and Emilio Gonzalez.
Higgins, currently a county commissioner, emerged from the race as the clear frontrunner, garnering nearly 36% of votes among the thirteen candidates. Gonzalez, a former city manager and director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under President George W. Bush, pulled 19.5%, taking the second slot in the runoff.
Former city commissioner Ken Russell was close behind, achieving more than 17% of votes — missing the runoff.
Since no candidate reached over 50% of votes, a runoff election must take place.
"We're done with dysfunction, we're done with chaos, we're done with corruption. What we need is progress," Higgins told a crowd at a watch party in downtown Miami. "Above all else, I hope to lead a city that really belongs to all of us, no matter what neighborhood you live in, no matter what language you speak."
Conservative voters in the city split their vote among many Cuban-American candidates, but Gonzalez managed to the most votes out of any of them. At his party in Little Havana, Gonzalez supporters were elated that he made the second round.
"We've been working hard to get to this day, the fact that there's so many candidates, we all knew that nobody was going to get 50%, so it's just a matter of staying in the fight and keeping our message consistent," said Gonzalez. "Remember that of all the people running Eileen was only running against Ken. I was running against everybody."
Although the city mayor is technically a nonpartisan position, Gonzalez is a registered Republican and Higgins is a registered Democrat, and the race will likely be seen by many in partisan terms. Gonzalez has been endorsed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and other GOP lawmakers; Higgins has been endorsed by many Democrats.
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The city has not elected a mayor affiliated with the Democratic party since Stephen P. Clark won the mayoral election in 1993. That election also marked the last time Miami voters elected a non-Cuban or Cuban-American mayor.
The recent history weighs on Higgins campaign, but the candidate told WLRN she was ready to confront it.
"I'm going to overcome the past by being myself," said Higgins. "Since 2018 [voters] have decided that it doesn't matter that I'm a woman. It doesn't matter to them that I'm not Hispanic. They've chosen me three times and tonight by a two to one margin they've selected me to be the mayor of the city of Miami."
Gonzalez told WLRN he fully expects other parts of the country to start paying attention to the runoff, including many who will paint the race in partisan terms.
Gonzalez noted that Florida is President Donald Trump’s home state, and the president is in the middle of trying to place a Presidential Library in downtown Miami, an effort being contested in court. The president will be in downtown Miami on Wednesday night speaking at an economic forum event.
“The second round will be more national,” said Gonzalez. “I’m ready for it.”
The results mark the apparent end of Joe Carollo’s role as a Miami politician, as voters approved a ballot question that imposed lifetime term limits on elected officials. He received just over 11% of votes in the mayoral race, and did not make the runoff election.
Carollo has served two terms as mayor in the 1990s through 2000s, as well as serving five terms as commissioner, between stints in the 1970s and 1980s, and being reelected in 2017 and reelected in 2021. Carollo was running for a third term as mayor at the same time the ballot referendum was being presented to voters.
His brash style of governing has kept the city in the headlines for decades and, in recent years, in legal trouble, with legal fees in the last several years growing to over $10 million, according to an insurance company.
Known to go on long personal tirades against perceived enemies, Carollo has long been a divisive figure, eliciting intense loyalty from friends and hostility from opponents.
But with so much experience in the city, Carollo showed deep knowledge of how the city government operates, and he is known to zero in on tiny line-items in budgeting and to ask probing and revealing questions about city operations and efficiencies. His office has opened new parks around his district and he has championed services for the elderly, who have made up a core part of his base.
One city district race was decided on Tuesday night, with incumbent District 5 commissioner Christine King sweeping the race against two opponents with 85% of votes.
The District 3 race will enter into a runoff after Frank Carollo won about 37% of votes in an eight candidate race. Carollo, the brother of Joe Carollo, will face political newcomer Rolando Escalona in the December runoff election. Escalona received over 17% of votes.
Voters approved three ballot measures by a wide margin: on the creation of an Independent Charter Review Commission within one year of every Census; on whether to establish an independent commission for redistricting in order to eliminate gerrymandering; and establishing lifetime term limits for elected officials.
It is unclear how the ballot measure on term limits could affect Frank Carollo, who is entering into a runoff against Escalona. Frank Carollo previously served two terms as city commissioner.
Voters also rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed city officials to skip asking voters to approve the sale or lease of non-waterfront property if they receive fewer than three proposals after being opened to bid. That measure was strongly supported by city manager Art Noriega, including in a video posted to social media the day before election day.
