MIAMI — Miami residents took to the polls to elect a new mayor on Tuesday from a crowded field of 13 candidates.
Eileen Higgins, a Miami-Dade County commissioner, and Emilio González, who served as Miami’s city manager from 2018 to 2020, will be heading to a runoff election on Dec. 9.
Higgins was the clear front runner, coming in first place with roughly 36 percent of the total vote, but she needed over 50 percent of the vote to secure the win.
Nevertheless, her campaign members seemed very happy with the results.
If elected next month, Higgins would become the first woman to serve as mayor in the city of Miami.
“We have been living through years of nothing but turmoil, corruption, disruption, a bunch of guys yelling at each other all the time, and in the meantime, you can’t get a permit to open a small business, you can’t get a permit to fix your roof, our streets are still flooded,” Higgins said. “I’m an engineer by trade, so I know how to get to work and solve people’s problems. That’s my goal when I become the mayor of the City of Miami.”
Coming in second place was González, who received about 19 percent of the vote.
He ran a campaign focused on reform and accountability, pledging to root out corruption at city hall.
González received support from many prominent conservatives in the state, including Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Local 10 News was there the moment he told his supporters Tuesday night that they had secured the second place spot in next month’s run off.
Just narrowly missing out on that second place spot was former city Commissioner Ken Russell, who finished only about 700 votes behind González.
Russell also vowed to root out corruption at city hall, while also pushing for more affordable housing and climate resiliency projects.
And coming in fourth place was current city Commissioner Joe Carollo -- someone who has a long and storied history in Miami politics.
Carollo previously served two terms as mayor starting back in the 1990’s, and he’s also served five terms as a commissioner.
Carollo ran on his experience at city hall, touting it as an asset to help him get things done.
This result likely means the end of his political career in Miami politics, as voters also approved a ballot measure imposing lifetime term limits.
González and Higgins raised the most campaign monetary contributions among the candidates.
As of Monday afternoon, González, a retired U.S. Army Colonel who lives near Coconut Grove, had raised $217,766.
González, the Miami-Dade Aviation Department director from 2013 to 2017, has experience heading the Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, was the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service director, and worked in the Office of Special Assistants for the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Southern Command.
Higgins, who has experience as an engineer, was a marketing executive, the director of the Peace Corps in Belize, and a diplomat in the foreign service, raised about $193,548.
Even though the role of Miami mayor is technically non-partisan, the runoff election is likely to be viewed in a very political lens due to DeSantis’ endorsement of González and Higgins receiving support from many Democratic figures.
The runoff election is now scheduled for Dec. 9.
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
