Miami elected a Democratic mayor for the first time in nearly three decades. Eileen Higgins defeated Republican Emilio Gonzalez by a wide margin, despite his endorsement by Donald Trump.
AP writes about this.
Higgins, 61, led her opponent by nearly 20 percentage points despite her campaign being built on criticizing Trumpʼs immigration policies. She is also the first woman to win the mayoral election in Miami. She told the AP that Miami voters did not support "inhumane rhetoric" about immigrants.
The Democratʼs victory came as a surprise, as most of the cityʼs residents are immigrants from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and other Latin American countries, who traditionally vote for Republicans.
Republican Congresswoman Maria Salazar called the results a "wake-up call" for her party. According to her, Latino voters want both border security and a strong economy, but also relaxation of rules for those migrants who have lived in the United States for many years and have no problems with the law.
Miami has a population of about 500 000 and is part of Miami-Dade County, which voted the most for incumbent US President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Democrats are now seeing the new election result as a positive signal ahead of next yearʼs midterm elections for Congress.
- In the 2024 election, Trump won 46% of Latino voters, a record for a Republican candidate in the modern era. His success led to Vice President Kamala Harris receiving the worst Latino vote for a Democratic presidential candidate in 20 years.
- Latinos voted for Donald Trump, despite his racist rhetoric about undocumented immigrants and his claim that Puerto Rico is a “garbage island”. This year, the economy and inflation were the top priorities for people in the election.
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