Incumbent Mayor Steve Meiner holds on in Miami Beach — but just barely

Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner can keep his corner office at City Hall — but he almost lost it. Miami Beach voters re-elected him Tuesday night by a thin margin, giving him about 51% of the vote over Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who came within striking distance at 49%.
It was a squeaker at a 357-vote difference. That means that if 170 of those votes had flipped, it would have tipped it the other way. And for a guy who’s been touting “cleaning up spring break” and “reducing crime by almost 20%,” that’s hardly the landslide mandate he was hoping for.
“You saw the work that we did the last two years,” Meiner told supporters after his win. “We cleaned up spring break, we reduced crime almost 20%, our homeless count is almost one of the lowest.”
Almost one of the lowest? Is that because homeless persons accounted for 42% of all arrests in Miami Beach in 2024, reaching 53% of all arrests in February of this year?
That is one seriously villainous victory lap, but anyone who’s walked down Ocean Drive after midnight might wonder what measuring stick Meiner is using. Sure, things have been tamer since the city cracked down on spring break crowds — but that came with curfews, roadblocks, revenue losses and lawsuits. Not exactly business-friendly beach vibes.
Read related: Keon Hardemon blasts Miami Beach’s “Draconian” Spring Break measures
Still, Meiner’s pitch to voters worked just enough: keep the peace, keep the cops, and keep the party contained. And apparently, enough residents preferred that over starting from scratch.
Across town, Rosen Gonzalez — the college professor and self-styled reformer who once called herself “the most honest person in Miami Beach politics” (which, honestly, might be true) — thanked supporters and congratulated Meiner for the win.
“We put our heart and soul into this campaign and I couldn’t see us working harder,” she said. “So I’d like to congratulate Steven Meiner. He ran a great race too, and it was hard going up against an incumbent.”
Rosen Gonzalez was endorsed by The Miami Herald, SAVE, several labor unions and local Democrats. She ran on restoring civility and refocusing City Hall on “the economy, water quality, and transit,” instead of the constant personality clashes that have made Miami Beach politics its own reality show. She also wasn’t shy about calling out Meiner’s narrative on public safety, pointing out that while overall crime may be down, violent offenses are up — and residents still don’t feel as safe as the mayor’s talking points claim.
Read related: Kristen 3.0? Miami Beach firebrand commissioner vs Mayor Steve Meiner
“We focused this campaign on issues that really impact people — public safety, the environment, the economy,” a downbeat Rosen Gonzalez told Political Cortadito Wednesday morning as she second guessed herself and thought about things she didn’t do. “What we didn’t do was talk about the hyper partisan part of it.”
While this race was technically nonpartisan — which is so cute to say nowadays — local Democrats did support Rosen Gonzalez and painted Meiner as an out-of-touch conservative not in line with the Beach values.
They reminded voters about Meiner’s proposal to terminate O Cinema’s lease and pull funding because it screened the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” which covers Palestinian displacement in the West Bank. He called the film “one-sided propaganda … not consistent with the values of our City and resident.” The issue raised real questions about censorship, artistic freedom, city support of arts institutions, and the politics of referencing the Israel/Palestine conflict in local government, which seems to be a recurring theme, and triggered strong backlash from artists, free-speech advocates (including the ACLU), the filmmakers, and local residents. So much so that the commission voted 5-2 against it and Meiner withdrew the proposal.
The Democratic Party also told voters about the lingering, unanswered questions about Meiner’s sudden resignation from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Miami office, where he was an enforcement attorney since 2007, after three former employees alleged he made unwelcome sexual advances or displayed other inappropriate behavior while at the agency. One intern claimed he tried to kiss her. The SEC’s national human‐resources team reportedly began interviewing current and former colleagues in the Miami office about Meiner’s conduct. Meiner, who was elected mayor shortly after the allegations surfaced, responded by denying the allegations, and suggested the claims may have been motivated by anti-Israel or antisemitic bias.
Because of course he did.
Read related: Miami Beach mayor wants more ‘decorum’ among city officials, residents
But none of those reminders worked. And Meiner, who already had the ultra religious and orthodox vote, got the MAGA vote behind him at the end. Rosen Gonzalez was winning with the absentee or mail-in ballots by 137 votes, and Meiner caught up during early voting and on Election Day.
So what does this nail-biter mean? Meiner keeps his job, but not by much — and with nearly half the city voting for change, he can’t exactly pretend it’s smooth sailing.
His win was arguably more about fear of chaos than faith in leadership. And if Rosen Gonzalez managed to come that close against an incumbent with the police union, the business crowd, and the “no more spring break madness” brigade behind him, that says something.
Miami Beach voters may have stuck with Meiner this time, but they sent a message too: no more strongman politics disguised as public safety.
Ladra’s guess? The mayor might have kept the beach under control — but keeping the commission in line for another two years is going to be the real wild ride. And it might hinge on who wins the runoff in the commission Group 1 seat (more on that later).
As for the termed out Rosen Gonzalez, you can bet she won’t let the momentum of her coalition go to waste, She plans on continuing to contribute in some way — and Ladra predicts she wil try again.

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