Laura Anderson is a rare species: A socialist running for Miami mayor

Part of a series of profiles about the Miami mayoral candidates
It’s not like the Miami mayoral race needed another long shot candidate to crowd up the ballot, but Laura Anderson is running anyway. Anderson is one of the 13 people who want to be the mayor — but the only one who openly identifies as a socialist.
She’s never held office before. She’s not a developer, not a fundraiser, not a well-heeled civic name. She’s a freight railroad conductor, a Socialist Workers Party member, and a downtown resident with a vision that comes from the rails, not the boardrooms.
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Born in St. Charles, Illinois, raised in the American Midwest, Anderson lived in Hialeah for about 14 months before she made her way in 2023 to Miami’s Model City neighborhood, where she lives and works for CSX Transportation. She’s a proud union member of SMART-TD Local 1138, a visible face of labor in transit and freight.
Anderson joined the Socialist Workers Party in the early ’90s during her fights against immigrant worker suppression (think Proposition 187 in California), protests over Rodney King, and solidarity missions to Cuba.
She is appealing to the working people of Miami who keep getting squeezed from every direction. Anderson wants a city that centers their attention on labor, housing, public transport, and community programs — not luxury towers and developer tax breaks.
Her campaign messaging is loud and clear in the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey — and sort of new to Miami politics: She opposes U.S. imprialism abroad, calls for amnesty for undocumented workers, and frames the race as part of a broader workers’ struggle. Anderson backs union-led public works programs — more schools, bridges, housing — to put people to work. And she vows to defend workers’ rights, freedom of speech, assembly, due process, and push against capitalist interests she says currently dominate government.
She is going to have a hard time getting that message across with only $1,250 in campaign funds reported through September. But maybe the campaign for mayor is not the point. Anderson also uses campaign stops to promote The Militant newsweekly and socialist literature, often appearing at book fairs and labor events.
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There are pluses and minuses to being Laura Anderson. The strengths: She’s authentic. In a race cluttered with suits and slogans, a conductor with union ties carries a kind of moral weight. She also speaks to a class many candidates ignore — the working class, public transit riders, overlooked communities.
Weaknesses? She’s got zero name recognition compared to commissioners, ex-mayors, and big money campaigns. Her platform is ideological and sweeping, while many voters want immediate fixes — trash, water pipes, policing — not system overhaul. And the big one: Socialist identity in Miami politics is the kiss of death. She may as well say she eats babies.
Anderson won’t win this mayor’s race — but perhaps her presence forces the other candidates to address labor, inequality, and the everyday struggles of people who don’t own condos or futures in real estate. In a field crowded with promise and ambition, Anderson is a reminder that governance is not just for the rich and well connected — it’s supposed to be for everyone.

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