A GOP hugger vs. a developers’ darling — Miami’s mayoral race just got defined

If you were still pretending this Miami mayoral runoff was about potholes, policing, or parks, bless your heart. Porque no, mi amor.
The race between Emilio González and Eileen Higgins has officially ripped off the mask, and what’s underneath is the same old Miami power struggle with a twist. Usually, the developers and the Republican machine are on the same side. Not this time. Not the way these two campaign pushes have landed this week.
It continues to be a partisan fight, with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson throwing her hat — which one, is anyone’s guess — in Higgins’ corner and Gonzalez wrapping himself in the GOP flag like it’s a weighted blanket. His campaign proudly blasted out a press release announcing Congressman Byron Donalds’ endorsement — completing the “GOP Governor Hopeful Pokémon Collection.” Donalds’ support adds to endorsements from Gov. Ron DeSantis, House Speaker Paul Renner, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins. and makes sense after the two were seen chumming it up at the Republican Party of Florida’s Lincoln Dinner last week.
Then President Donald Trump endorsed Gonzalez on Truth Social on Sunday. Of course, he spelled his name wrong.
“It is my Great Honor to endorse Emilio T. Gonzales to be the next mayor of the Beautiful City of Miami,” Trump posted. “As the former Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and a brave U.S. Army Veteran, Emilio strongly supports our incredible Law Enforcement, Military, and Veterans, and knows the Wisdom and Courage it takes to ensure LAW AND ORDER.”
Also, he wants that library in downtown Miami.
Ladra gets the feeling that if another Republican sneezes near the Miami River, Emilio’s camp will probably send a press release calling it an endorsement.
Donalds, who also has Trump’s endorsement for Florida guv in 2026, declared on X: “Emilio, you are the candidate to lead Miami into the future.” This from a guy whose district is two counties away and whose Miami knowledge comes from one or two fundraisers on Brickell.
Team Gonzalez pitched this as “rare and important alignment.” Ladra agrees it’s rare — because it’s not normal to turn a nonpartisan city election into the GOP state convention. But Team Gonzalez is betting that Miami voters want a Fox News mayor.Or at least that enough Republican abuelos will turn out in a low-turnout runoff to make it work.
Read related: Eileen Higgins heads into partisan Miami mayoral runoff with momentum
And while the colonel climbs the GOP tree, Higgins is hosting a bonfire for developers, who are hoisting her on their shoulders like she was the Queen of Density.
A fundraising invitation for her mayoral campaign went out this week and, even in a town where developers are always lurking, this one raised eyebrows. And hackles. And blood pressure.
The invitation to Monday’s mega contributor even features Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin Tapanes, Adler Properties, Sara Adler, Jose González (no relation to Emilio), Jonathan Riaffe, Integra Investments and Nelson Stabile. Basically everyone who shows up anytime a zoning map is being set on fire.

Many of the fundraiser hosts for Monday’s lunchtime powwow at the Brightline station — so on brand, right? — are tied to two of the districts most criticized groups, the Miami Downtown Development Authority, where Higgins had served as Vice Chair, and the Morningside Civic Association, which has been on board with Damian Pardo‘s sidewalk project, which an attorney for other residents say has sidestepped the proper process.
Developers love the DDA. Land use lobbyist Melissa Tapanes is on the board. Critics, led by Downtown Neighbors Association President James Torres, say it has been a double-tax on residents and ignored sanitation and security issues while handing out subsidies to multimillion multinationals like Halloween candy.
Read related: Eileen Higgins: An engineer who wants to run Miami like a well-oiled machine
And the MCA, which is ruled by a bunch of Morningside residents with developer ties, has been pushing for a sidewalk project that may apparently be moving forward against the wishes of many residents who say the proper process has been ignored. Members of that board are on the host committee.
That’s right. The same group of insider board members who work in large development firms, including Integra and Adler, and who have been aggressively promoting a controversial right-of-way construction plan that affects residents’ properties, trees, drainage and environmental protections are hosting a major fundraiser for a mayoral candidate.
“When you connect those dots, the pattern becomes clear: the political machine pushing disruptive construction onto residents is the same machine lining up behind the candidate developers want in the mayor’s office,” resident Brian Hollenbeck told the Floridian Press. “For many of us, that overlap is not a coincidence; it is the whole story.”
The RSVPs are made to Greg Goddard, former finance chief for both Charlie Crist for Governor and Hillary Clinton’s Florida effort. He could use a win, huh? And one must “select a contribution option” — either a $1,000 check paid to her campaign or “unlimited funds” to her political action committee, Ethical Leadership for Miami.
There’s something about the word “unlimited funds” and “ethical leadership” that just sounds like they don’t belong in the same sentence.
So what do we really have in this election?
On one side, we have Gonzalez, wrapped in endorsements from MAGA celebrities, conservative power players, and Republican kingmakers. On the other, Higgins is being anointed by the development elite, backed by Republican insiders who only cross party lines when zoning variances are at stake.
Read related: Emilio Gonzalez will ‘clean up’ Miami — but he was there when it got dirty
It’s not left vs. right. It’s power vs. power.
And Miami voters are stuck in the middle like a speed bump on a developer’s renderings.
When Ladra looks at this race, she doesn’t see candidates. She sees interests, yelling over each other, waving checks, tugging on campaign collars like toddlers fighting over a toy.
Gonzalez, who was the one who sued to make sure this election happened — after the current mayor and commissioners tried to push it off for a year — wants voters to believe he’s the savior of “common-sense conservatism.” Higgins wants voters to forget she’s the developers’ favorite rubber stamp.
But one thing is clear: Both campaigns are answering to someone. Only one of them will eventually have to answer to voters.
 And we’ll find out on Dec. 9 whether Miami picks the GOP’s chosen one or the developers’ chosen one.

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