Eileen Higgens won Miami's mayoral runoff election Tuesday. She is the first Democrat to be elected mayor of the city in more than 30 years. CBS News correspondent Cristian Benavides reports.

Miami

Eileen Higgins has been elected as Miami's mayor, marking the first time in more than three decades that a Democrat will hold the office. Higgins, a former county commissioner, won the runoff with 59% of the vote against Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who had the endorsement of President Trump.

Higgins' campaign focused on immigration, affordability, and climate change, resonating with Miami's diverse and largely foreign-born population. The victory is seen as significant for Democrats in a state that has recently favored Republicans, and comes as Miami prepares to host the Trump presidential library.

Higgins wins Miami mayoral race, first Democrat in over 30 years

Let's get to some breaking news out of Miami. Voters are putting a Democrat into the mayor's seat for the first time in more than 30 years. Former County Commissioner Eileen Higgins declared the winner in today's runoff. Higgins won with 59% of the vote, defeating Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who was backed by President Trump. Moments ago, Higgins celebrated her victory with supporters. She was asked about her victory that comes despite Trump's throwing his support behind her opponent. For me, it's the people of Miami that voted for me. What I knew all along is I had the support of the residents. I have served them for eight years. They have always reelected me and they showed tonight that they like my track record of always going to work for them and that's what they chose tonight. Eileen Higgins there saying that voters like her track record. Let's check in with CBS News Correspondent Cristian Benavides who joins us live now. Wow, what a chic up here. The mayoral seat just flipped from red to blue for the first time in decades. So why don't you first tell us about what made this switch? How did she sway voters? What was the change? Well, look, and just to be clear, this is a blowout victory for Democrats. And to put all of this into perspective, the last time the city of Miami elected a Democrat as mayor was in 1993. So for the first time in more than 30 years, Democrats have won an election in Miami. Now there was a win back in 1997 that was overturned by legal challenges. But I mean, by all accounts, this 20 point victory, hugely symbolic for a Democratic Party that in Florida has been at the receiving end of a number of losses. The state is practically a red state at this point. We saw how the president has won here, how Governor DeSantis has won here. But I spoke to the Democratic candidate prior to the election. And she said that if she wins, it would be in part a referendum on President Trump's immigration policy, which she called sinful. Now to take a step back a little bit further, the city of Miami has a population that is about 57% foreign born. That's according to the 2024 US census. And about half are naturalized US citizens who were eligible to vote in this election. And while nationally Hispanic voters trend Democrat, in South Florida, it has always been the case that Republicans have found a stronghold among Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan communities who fled communist and socialist governments. However, immigration has reached a flashpoint in Florida where state troopers are carrying out immigration enforcement. It's become the home to Alligator Alcatraz, the immigration detention center. And the state has a majority of Venezuelan immigrants to the US. Many of them integrated into the local economy. You have over 250,000 of whom recently lost their temporary protected status. So what Higgins did is she certainly hammered the point on immigration. She also focused on affordability, a huge issue in Miami, and also focused on climate change. There are a number of areas that flood on a regular basis across Miami. So we have seen the effects of changing climate across Miami just by virtue of being here. So those were her three top issues, particularly on immigration and affordability, and it appears to have worked. Yeah, her main message too, we just saw it there. We were putting a statement that she had said just recently, but basically she wanted to change the tide of chaos and corruption. We see it there on our screen tonight. The people of Miami made history together. We turned the page on years of chaos and corruption and so forth. So when we're talking about the immigration platform, were there other visions for Miami? What else is on her agenda? Well, certainly affordability. The city of Miami prior to the pandemic was an extremely affordable big city. Now you've got a number of large companies, and I spoke to Higgins about this because you've got a number of tech and finance companies that have moved into Miami that have caused an overall positive effect when it comes to the number of high paying jobs and building more infrastructure around Miami. But when it comes to people who have lived their entire lives in Miami, they find it unaffordable. It's very difficult to, just to give you an example of this, prior to the pandemic, you'd likely be able to find an apartment in downtown Miami for perhaps $1,500 a month, a two bedroom, two bath. Now, closer to $3,500 a month. So that sort of huge increase in the cost of rent has, or even just the pricing for homes that have also skyrocketed. There are a lot of affordability issues and so that's something that she has also focused on. Now to his credit, Emilio Gonzalez also focused on many of those issues, but it appears that where they differed the most was on immigration. And it appears at least according to the results that that may be what helped her clinch this race. Interestingly enough, Miami is also going to be home to the Trump presidential library. So it will be interesting to see democratic leadership in the city where president Trump will eventually have his presidential library. Sure, quite a turn, as we say, the first Democrat in more than 30 years, Christiana Benavides in Miami. Thank you so much for your insight and for joining us so quickly on this breaking news. Appreciate it.

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