Eileen Higgins

The former Miami-Dade County Commissioner became Miami’s mayor in late 2025, when the Democrat flipped a post that had long been seen as safe for Republicans. 

She won by a landslide over former city manager Emilio González in the race to succeed Francis Suarez, who was deeply embedded with the real estate industry. The victory made Miami part of the recent trend of candidates changing electoral equations by winning mayoral seats under the Democrats’ banner in major cities, following recent surprises in New York and Seattle.    

Higgins was helped in no small part by developers and land-use attorneys who backed her campaign as she pledged to fix Miami’s inefficient permitting process, clean up corruption at City Hall and help improve affordability. She emphasized her record as a county commissioner, citing approvals of projects with nearly 7,000 affordable and workforce housing units. The combination of development-friendly policies and demonstrated experience helped her raise 10 times as much money from real estate interests as Gonzalez, with contributions from Related Group, Terra, Integra Investments developer Nelson Stabile, Adler Properties CEO Jonathan Raiffe, and zoning lawyers Iris Escarra and Melissa Tapanes Llahues. 

Higgins is the first female mayor of Miami. 

— Katherine Kallergis