Miami voters on Tuesday elected Democrat Eileen Higgins as mayor, ending a nearly three-decade dry spell for her party after she defeated a Republican endorsed by Donald Trump in the predominantly Hispanic city.

While the election was officially nonpartisan, the race took on national significance, pitting Higgins against Republican Emilio Gonzalez, a former Miami city manager, in a contest closely watched by both parties.

The win comes in the wake of recent electoral success achieved by the Democratic Party ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Here is what we know:

What were the final results of the Miami election?

Higgins led Republican Gonzalez 59 percent to 41 percent on Tuesday night, according to preliminary results from the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office. She is the first woman ever elected as mayor in the city.

She won Tuesday’s run-off after leading the first round of voting on November 4 with 35 percent of the vote to Gonzalez’s 19 percent.

“Tonight, the people of Miami made history,” Higgins said in a statement. “Together, we turned the page on years of chaos and corruption and opened the door to a new era for our city.”

Higgins’ victory adds to a run of recent Democratic wins, including races in New Jersey and Virginia, as the party looks towards the 2026 midterms. That trend continued with strong results in November’s off-year elections and a solid showing in this month’s special House race in Tennessee.

While Miami’s mayor wields limited formal power, the role is highly symbolic, representing a city with a large Latino population at the centre of national immigration debates.

Home to roughly half a million residents, Miami is Florida’s second-most populous city after Jacksonville. In recent election cycles, it has shifted towards Republicans, making a Democratic win stand out even more. Trump had won Miami-Dade County in the 2024 presidential election against her Democratic rival Kamala Harris.

Hispanic or Latino residents make up roughly 70 percent of Miami’s population. In Miami-Dade County overall, about 69–70 percent of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino – a demographic majority that significantly shapes the region’s cultural and political identity.

What are some of the key issues of this campaign?

Immigration was a key issue in Higgins’ campaign.

In Miami, she often talked about Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying she heard from residents who were worried about family members being detained. She described the election as a referendum on the president’s policies, which have caused concerns about due process.

More than 200,000 people have been arrested since Trump launched the crackdown on migrants in January. At least 75,000 people, who were arrested as part of Trump’s fight against gang members and criminals, had no criminal records, according to new data. He has deported hundreds of migrants and halted asylum and green card applications.

The Trump administration had also ordered the arrest of several students who participated in protests against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Several of them have since been released by the courts.

The difference between the candidates was clear during a debate last month. Higgins called immigration enforcement in Miami “cruel and inhumane” and criticised the detention centre opened by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, commonly known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.

In that same debate, her opponent, Gonzalez, said he supported federal law enforcement rounding up “people who commit crimes”.

“I support putting down migrant criminals, I cannot in good conscience fight with the federal government and defend a rapist or a murderer,” Gonzalez added.

Higgins repeated her message in an interview with El Pais this week, drawing a sharp contrast with Trump’s approach.

“He and I have very different points of view on how we should treat our residents, many of whom are immigrants,” she said.

“That is the strength of this community. We are an immigrant-based place. That’s our uniqueness. That’s what makes us special.”

Affordability was also a major issue in the race. Higgins focused her campaign on local concerns such as housing costs, while Gonzalez campaigned on repealing Miami’s homestead property tax and streamlining business permits.

“My opponent is keen on building, building, building,” Gonzalez told CNN. “She wants to put a skyscraper in every corner … then calling it affordable housing, which is a misnomer, because very rarely is it truly affordable.”

During a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Trump raised the issue of affordability, which Democrats have highlighted. He blamed high prices on his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The cost of living has been on the election campaign agenda in recent gubernatorial and mayoral elections in which Democrats have made gains, including the much-publicised New York mayoral election. The Democratic wins show that the issue has resonated with voters.

Who is Eileen Higgins?

Higgins is Miami’s first non-Hispanic mayor in nearly three decades. Born in Ohio and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of New Mexico and later completed an MBA at Cornell University.

Before becoming mayor, Higgins represented a politically conservative district that includes Little Havana, the city’s well-known Cuban enclave.

She has embraced the nickname “La Gringa,” a term commonly used in Spanish to refer to white Americans.

Her professional background spans international development and consulting, with a focus on infrastructure and transportation projects across Latin America. She later served as Peace Corps country director in Belize and went on to work as a foreign service officer for the United States Department of State, where her portfolio included diplomatic and economic development efforts in countries such as Mexico and South Africa.

After her government service, Higgins returned to the private sector before eventually entering local politics in Miami.