Eileen Higgins Wins Miami Mayoral Race, Credits Victory to Reaching Voters Across Party Lines – Breaks 30 Year Trend

Miami Mayor-elect Eileen Higgins says her decisive victory, the first Democratic win in the city’s mayoral race in nearly 30 years, came down to one strategy: talking to everyone.

In an interview with CBS News shortly after polls closed, CBS chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett asked Higgins about the so-called “Trump effect,” noting that President Trump had endorsed her Republican opponent, Emilio González.

“I don’t know,” Higgins replied. “What I know is what I did. I worked. I knocked on doors and called Republicans, independents, and Democrats all across the city because you cannot become the mayor of this city if only Democrats vote for you. You cannot become the mayor of this city if only Republicans vote for you. You have to have all three.”

Higgins, also the first woman ever elected mayor of Miami, won with 59% of the vote. She noted she has already spent eight years representing a Republican-leaning district on the Miami-Dade County Commission.

In the runoff, Higgins defeated González, a former city manager endorsed by both Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. While the race is officially nonpartisan, it became increasingly political due to the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the president’s involvement.

Higgins told CBS that her party label will not dictate how she governs.

“The folks of the city of Miami know that I am a loud, proud Democrat,” she said. “But when I get elected, the election is over and the time of service begins, and you serve everybody. You never ask their political affiliation. If their street is flooded, if they need an affordable place to live, you do not ask what party they are from. You say, ‘We have to make that happen for you.’”

Miami, a heavily Hispanic city where a majority of residents were born outside the United States, has faced growing concerns around immigration, housing affordability, flooding, and rapid development. Higgins centered these issues throughout her campaign.

At her victory celebration, she told supporters, “Our city chose a new direction. You chose competence over chaos, results over excuses, and a city government that finally works for you.”

Joseph Johnson

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