Democrats are favoured to win Miami’s mayoral race for the first time in nearly 30 years, with the run-off closely watched as a test of voter sentiment in United States President Donald Trump’s Florida stronghold.
Although the election on Tuesday is technically nonpartisan – by law, candidates’ party affiliations do not appear on the ballot – it has drawn national attention.
Trump has endorsed former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, a Republican, while the Democratic National Committee is backing Eileen Higgins, 61, a former Miami-Dade County commissioner.
Higgins led a crowded field in last month’s first round, securing 36 percent of the vote, short of the majority needed to win outright, but well ahead of Gonzalez, a retired US Army colonel, who finished second with 20 percent. Another Democrat, former city commissioner Ken Russell, placed third with 18 percent.
If elected, Higgins would become the first Democrat to lead the city of 487,000 in nearly three decades, as well as the first woman and the first non-Hispanic mayor of Hispanic-majority Miami.
Democrats gain momentum before midterm elections
The race has attracted heavyweight support from both parties.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Rick Scott have campaigned for Gonzalez, while prominent Democrats, including US Senator Ruben Gallego and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, have appeared on the trail for Higgins, who served on the county commission before advancing to the run-off.
A Democratic victory would add to the party’s momentum heading into the next midterm elections, following gains in November and a closer-than-expected loss last week in a special election for a Tennessee congressional district that Trump won by double digits.
The Miami contest is unfolding in an area that has shifted increasingly towards Republicans and where Trump has said he plans to build his presidential library.
Higgins, who has embraced the nickname “La Gringa”, says she speaks Spanish, and has represented the Cuban-American enclave of Little Havana, a conservative-leaning district.
Her campaign has focused on local issues, such as housing affordability, while also addressing national concerns, including immigration enforcement in a city with large Hispanic and foreign-born populations.
Gonzalez, meanwhile, has campaigned on repealing Miami’s homestead property tax and streamlining business permits.
A former director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services under President George W Bush, he has said he supports immigration arrests of those who commit crimes, describing broader enforcement questions as a “federal issue” during a recent debate.
