Headline Roundup • December 10th, 2025
Miami Elects First Democratic Mayor in 28 Years
Summary from the AllSides News Team
On Tuesday, Miami elected its first Democratic mayor in 28 years.
The Details: Eileen Higgins, a former county commissioner, defeated Emilio Gonzalez (R), a candidate backed by President Donald Trump, with 60% of the vote. She overcame recent Republican gains in South Florida in an election near Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. Higgins is the first woman to be elected mayor of Miami, and her priorities include increasing the police presence, rolling back property taxes, and overhauling permitting and licensing.
Key Quote: "I've never been prouder to be a Democrat," Higgins told AP. "We're living in the state of Florida, where we have people that are building cages for our residents rather than affordable housing for them."
For Context: Though the mayor's race is nominally nonpartisan, the election garnered sizable interest from national Democrats and Republicans. Higgins' win adds to the victories and close calls seen by Democrats this year. Both Higgins and Gonzalez ran anti-corruption campaigns following years of dysfunction and political scandal in Miami.
How the Media Covered It: Politico (Lean Left bias) reported that Higgins' win gives "added momentum" to Democrats heading into the midterms next year. The New York Post (Lean Right bias) called it a "major GOP loss."
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Suggest an improvement to this summary.
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Democrats have taken control of Miami for the first time in nearly 30 years after candidate Eileen Higgins clinched the city's mayoral election.
Higgins, 61, beat out Trump-backed Republican Emilio Gonzalez in the Florida city's runoff Tuesday night and will become the city's first Democratic mayor since 1998, as well as the city's first-ever woman mayor.
"Tonight, the people of Miami made history," she said in a statement after the results were announced.
The victory is an upset for GOP lawmakers across the country, who rallied behind Gonzalez as the...
Democrats can now add a major city in Donald Trump's home state — and one set to host his future presidential library — to its list of off-cycle election wins.
In a Tuesday runoff, Miamians elected Eileen Higgins as mayor, the first woman in the city's history to hold the job and the first Democrat in 28 years. Higgins, a former county commissioner, defeated Republican Emilio González, an ex-city manager who had the endorsement of Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, with 60 percent of the vote.
"Miami chose a new...
Miami has a new mayor, with former County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, a Democrat, beating Republican Emilio González, a former city manager endorsed by President Donald Trump.
The run-off election result upsets the status quo in the South Florida city, which had not elected a Democratic mayor in nearly three decades.
Florida has largely swung red in recent decades, but Miami has been seen as bluer, being home to many immigrant communities. That has changed in the past few years, with President Donald Trump seeing gains among those communities in the...
