Eileen Higgins wins Miami mayoral race, becoming the first Democrat and first woman to hold the office in nearly three decades.
MIAMI: Voters have elected Eileen Higgins as the city’s new mayor, making her the first Democrat to hold the office in nearly 30 years.
Higgins received about 60% of votes in Tuesday’s runoff election, according to CNN and the Miami Herald.
She defeated Republican candidate Emilio T. Gonzalez, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Despite winning by a double-digit margin, turnout in the off-year election was low.
Only about 20% of registered voters participated in the election.
With its high Latino population, Miami politics has long been dominated by Republicans of Cuban descent.
Trump, who frequently weekends at his Mar-a-Lago Club north of the city, won Florida’s electoral votes in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
“Together, we turned the page on years of chaos and corruption,” Higgins said in a statement.
She said the victory “opened the door to a new era for our city.”
In addition to being the first Democrat to win since the 1990s, Higgins is the first woman ever elected to the office.
The 61-year-old marks the latest Democratic victory in a sweep of election wins this year.
This follows major state-level races in Virginia and New Jersey and the New York mayoralty.
The string of successful Democratic campaigns is widely interpreted as a rebuke to Trump’s return to power. – AFP
