DNC goes ‘all in’ for Eileen Higgins in hyper partisan Miami mayoral race

Just when you thought Miami’s mayoral race couldn’t get more absurdly partisan — like, more partisan than it already was with President Donald Trump diving in from his gold-plated Truth Social bunker to endorse former city manager Emilio González — here comes the Democratic National Committee, belly-flopping into the runoff like it’s the Iowa caucus.
Sí, it’s true. The DNC has decided it is “all in” for former Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins in a municipal race that is officially nonpartisan but has now become a national proxy war between the MAGA machine and the MSNBC dream.
Somewhere, the old Miami-Dade Elections Department is weeping. The new supervisor of elections is making popcorn.
Let’s remember: Ladra already told you back in the general that this thing was turning into a hyper partisan tug of war. Politico has now finally reached the same conclusion — bless their hearts — reporting that the race has become “nationalized.”
Read related: Eileen Higgins heads into partisan Miami mayoral runoff with momentum
Yeah, we noticed. The minute Trump hit “post” on that endorsement for González, half of Miami screamed “¿Qué carajo?” and the other half immediately requested yard signs. So is it really a shock that the national Democrats — who usually treat Florida like a cursed amulet — suddenly want to play here?
Higgins said from Day 1 she’d be the Democrat in the race, even when there were 13 candidates and half of Coconut Grove was still working on their petitions. And that might have been the right message. Because the turnout among Democrats was 5.5% higher than Republican voters, according to data nerd Matthew Isbell, who runs MCI Maps and Data Consulting. But maybe that’s because Trump wasn’t on the ticket. Because last year, Republicans outperformed Democrats by 8%.
This big, fat, very public DNC bear hug the week before the runoff could help drive that turnout even bluer.
The DNC is rolling out a giant, bilingual “GOTV organizing blitz” with phone banks, volunteers from around the country, training sessions for boots on the ground — everything short of parachuting in Rachel Maddow to knock on doors in Shenandoah.
“While Higgins is running a campaign focused on lowering costs for Miami families, her opponent, Emilio Gonzalez, is a former Trump transition team staffer who supports Trump’s toxic agenda that is raising costs and ripping away health care from 1.5 million Floridians,” reads a statement from the DNC War Room.
“Gonzalez represents more of the same Republican aligned leadership that has failed Miami for nearly 30 years.”
Building Democratic power through the Southeast is a top priority for the DNC, particularly on the heels of 90% success rate in national races Nov. 4. That is why Chair Ken Martin announced a historic increase in the national investment in state parties, including $270,000 a year to traditionally GOP states through what it calls its “Red State Fund.” And it is why he visited Florida in March to campaign for Josh Weil in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, where Weil and fellow Democrat Gail Valimont in Florida’s 1st Congressional District overperformed 2024 margins by over double digits.
Read related: Partisan divide is strong in Miami mayoral race, Gonzalez vs Higgins
“When you organize everywhere, you can win anywhere — including here in Florida, where Democrats are fighting to flip Miami’s mayorship for the first time in nearly 30 years,” Martin said in a statement. “Between now and Election Day, the DNC is all-in to elect Eileen Higgins and ensure Miami families have a champion who is fighting for them, not Donald Trump.”
Ah, yes. Because that’s how the abuelas on Flagler like their mayoral contests: framed as a showdown between a local transit nerd and a former president with 91 indictments, a plane donated by Qatar and a golf cart.
Thanks, Washington.
Donna Deegan was elected the first woman mayor of Jacksonville in 2023.
National Democrats are treating this like a chance to prove they still have a pulse in Florida — which, to be fair, has been questionable since 2016. They see a chance to flip a mayor’s office that hasn’t gone blue in three decades and make history with the first woman to ever hold the job.
They see her as the Donna Deegan of Miami, pero with more cafecito and more corruption.
Of course the DNC also loves Higgins porque her campaign is being run by Christian Ulvert, who used to be the political director of the Florida Democratic Party. State and national Democrats love themselves some Christian Ulvert. They think he’s the Florida vote whisperer.
Ulvert says Team Eileen will “welcome all support,” which is consultant for: Yes, please keep dumping money and volunteers into my campaign. Gracias.
Read related: Emilio Gonzalez will ‘clean up’ Miami — but he was there when it got dirty
Meanwhile, Trump’s “complete and total endorsement” of González managed to do something unusual: annoy Miami Republicans. Not all of them — the county GOP chair practically did a conga line in response — but enough rank-and-file GOPers are whispering that Trump sticking his giant orange thumb on the scale wasn’t helpful.
The González camp says they never asked for Trump’s endorsement, but they are leaning hard into it anyway — like it’s a life raft. The retired Army colonel, who has the backing of a lot of our local law enforcement, thanked the POTUS on social media.
“Thank you President @realDonaldTrump, for your endorsement. Miami’s future is on the line, and your support sends a powerful message that our city deserves strong, common-sense leadership.” He also thanked Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez and Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar — two Republicans known for tossing the red meat — on subsequent posts.
González has also collected endorsements like Pokémon cards: Gov. Ron DeSantis,  Sens. Rick Scott, Ashley Moody, Ted Cruz and Byron Donalds. It’s basically the Avengers of Florida conservatism (plus Cruz) — if the Avengers fought mask mandates and drag queens.
Gonzalez has called Higgins a “soft socialist” — because she rides the bus voluntarily? — and has said that she will use the mayor’s office to oppose Donald Trump’s agenda. He said before the Nov. 4 election that the other choices were all “crooks or commies” and that he won’t let Miami turn into New York or Seattle or Portland. He told the Miami-Dade GOP that “we are all MAGA,” which is a bold claim considering that while Trump won Miami-Dade last year, he lost the city of Miami narrowly to Kamala Harris.
We are not all MAGA.
Both candidates swear they’re not running as partisans and will represent all Miamians. They have focused their campaign points on the things people care about — affordability, flooding, transportation, and housing.
Read related: Eileen Higgins: An engineer who wants to run Miami like a well-oiled machine
But try telling that to the DNC, which is salivating at the chance to notch a win in Florida, or to Trump, who sees González as the next MAGA mayor and a chance to flex in a county he believes he has single-handedly turned red.
This is no longer a Miami mayor’s race. This is a proxy battle in a national divorce.
And Ladra, sitting here with her cortadito, is just wondering whether all this outside meddling will turn off the independents, the moderates, and the Miamians who just want their garbage picked up on time.
The truth this race was winnable on good local politics — reform, transparency, bringing trust back to City Hall — until the national parties stuck their big, sweaty noses in.
Now? It’s anyone’s game. And Miami, as usual, is the playground.
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