GOP Gets Stunned by Shock Loss in Miami Mayor’s Race

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2:41Ben Meiselas:A shocker in Miami leaving Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans stunned. A Democrat will go on to win the mayoral runoff election in Miami, handing a Democrat the mayor's seat for the first time in Miami in about 30 years. Democrat Eileen Higgins will go on to defeat the Republican candidate, Emilio Gonzalez, for the mayor of Miami. Now, the Republican candidate, Emilio Gonzalez was endorsed by Donald Trump repeatedly. He accepted that endorsement by Donald Trump. That became a very big deal in the Miami mayoral race because of the pain and the suffering that Donald Trump has inflicted on Miami and the migrant community there.

3:32Ben Meiselas:Get this, the Republican candidate won that same mayoral seat back in 2021 by 67 points. That's right. Miami's current mayor, a very corrupt MAGA mayor, Francis Suarez, who enriched himself in that mayor's seat. He won the 2021 race by 67 points. And right now with 90 % of the votes having been counted, where we can all fairly call this election for Eileen Higgins, she's leading by about 20 points. So you almost have in terms of a flip here, like a 80 point flip, if you will, in the direction of the Democratic candidate from plus 67 for the Republican mayor in 2021 to now about a plus 20 for a Democratic candidate.

4:31Ben Meiselas:Congratulations to Eileen Higgins. Now, the Republican candidate, Emilio Gonzalez, he was also shrouded in a reputation of corruption. He was the city manager there, and he abruptly resigned during massive scandals. As I mentioned, he accepted that Trump endorsement. Here's what Donald Trump said about him. It is my great honor to endorse Emilio T. Gonzalez to be the next mayor of the beautiful city of Miami, Florida. Florida. He says a successful businessman, a civic leader, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He goes on to say, Emilio Gonzalez has my complete and total endorsement, Miami. And then Donald Trump says, get out and vote for Emilio.

5:17Ben Meiselas:He will never let you down. And so Trump and MAGA thought that that mayor's race was going to be safe for the Republicans and for MAGA. Not so. Donald Trump also posted as it got closer to the election on December 7th. Miami's mayor's race is Tuesday. It's a big and important race. Vote for Republican Gonzalez. He is fantastic. You can also vote today. Make America great again. Donald Trump's endorsement, a kiss of death. And we've seen in the polling, Latinos are going away from Trump and MAGA feeling utterly betrayed. I want to show you what was the key portion of this mayor's race. And it took place during the debate where the candidates were asked about Gonzalez receiving Donald Trump's endorsement.

6:05Ben Meiselas:Emilio Gonzalez was asked, so you accept Donald Trump's endorsement and the way he's been treating the migrants and the immigrant community here, revoking people's temporary protected status, attacking the Venezuelans, attacking the Cubans. You're okay with that. Watch what goes down and watch as Eileen Higgins responds as well and calls out Gonzalez for being a Trump bootlicker. Here, play this clip. With the thing that has gotten you a lot of attention, the fact that you were endorsed by Donald Trump, was that something that you sought? It was something that came to me quite by surprise. I literally was resting, reading, my phone went off, and I thought, gee, what happened?

6:46Somebody died. What's going on here? And it was just people telling me, hey, you've just been endorsed by the president. I do know that the president, because he's a resident in the state of Florida, and there's talk of putting a library here in Miami, he follows events in Florida. He follows events closely. And so I wasn't surprised, but it wasn't something that, you know, I called up there and said, hey, can you do this for me? All right. And given that Miami is a city of immigrants. Yes, sir. You know, when you accept Donald Trump's endorsement, when you when he tweets out and puts out on there that he that he believes in you because you agree with his vision when it comes to migrant crime and the rest of it.

7:24I'm curious, do you support the president's policies when it comes to rounding up immigrants? Sixty percent of the residents of the city of Miami were born outside of the United States. The vast majority of the people who are being detained, who are being picked up, do not have criminal records. Are you supportive and will you help Donald Trump enforce that policy? Well, you just said it. I support rounding up people who commit crimes. The president says that I support putting down migrant criminals. I cannot in good conscience fight the federal government and defend a rapist or a murderer like happens in other cities.

8:01But the majority of the people being picked up right now are not rapists. Yes, but the majority, what you're talking about is a federal issue. This is a federal issue that has to do with Homeland Security. This is not an issue that has to do with the mayor of Miami. Now, mind you, I know who to talk to. I've been the immigration director. I can advocate for our community, which I certainly will. I plan on adding an immigration services staff member to help guide us through this. But this is not a topic that you want to just take on the president for. It's ludicrous. the president sees Florida as very important.

8:35He sees Miami as very important. And he has backed me because he feels that I have the leadership qualities to bring the city forward. I want to bring Eileen in on this, just on the issue of immigration policy and the next mayor of Miami. He's absolutely right. Mayor of Miami does not have say over a federal immigration policy. But there is a sense that if Donald Trump is supporting you, that there is a tacit agreement with the policy. Are you concerned by what's happening in the city of Miami? I'm very concerned with what's happening in the city of Miami for two reasons. First of all, they said they were going to go after criminals, but guess what?

9:10They're going after everybody. Every time I am out in our neighborhoods, people are telling me the story of someone they know, a friend, a relative that has had something happen to them, including going to Alligator Alcatraz. So in addition to being inhumane and cruel it's also bad for the economy two weeks ago our federal government the president eliminated tps for venezuelans it's almost a hundred thousand people who have tps from venezuela in miami-dade county so i was speaking to a gentleman has a health clinic he received notification from the federal government that he had to fire 27 people let me ask you they lost their work status.

9:50Do you think he should have rejected the endorsement? He's the president. I'm very glad the president did not endorse me.

9:59Ben Meiselas:Another important part of this debate between these candidates where Eileen Higgins will go on to win this election. It's where Gonzalez was asked about his corruption and why he abruptly resigned when he was the city manager. and again, he gives a bunch of MAGA gibberish right here and kind of blames it on his wife and puts it on his wife when he was shrouded in scandal, which is the real reason that he left. Here, play this clip. When Mr. Gonzalez served as the city manager, all of the same shenanigans that are going on now were going on then. Unfortunately, he had to leave. It was another example of the city of Miami not being able to get a thing.

10:46I want to bring, I want to bring, go ahead. I'd like to address that because I think there's a misunderstanding there of the role of the city manager. The city manager works for the elected officials and nobody knows what transpired. Nobody knows how I worked with my staff. Well, I want to get to that in a second, but on the allegation of fraud, are you, the fact that these commercials are running now against you, what has been your response to that? Listen, the commercials are running. I get to mailers, people call me, they laugh, they know. People know who I am. They know what I've done. Why did you resign?

11:17Because in the ad, it says you resigned in disgrace. Why did you resign? I resigned because my wife was at the Mount Sinai Hospital intensive care unit going through some very, very serious medical issues. And I had to choose. I brought her home. I brought her home in December. And I had to choose. She was in very delicate health. And I had to choose between going to city commission meetings and undertaking, you know, being a ringmaster in that circus. because that's what it was. It was an absolute circus. I was playing defense the whole time, or I could stay home and take care of my wife. And I opted for that.

11:51Ben Meiselas:And you may recall our good friend here at the Midas Touch Network, Simon Rosenberg, spoke with Eileen Higgins before this race. And here's what she told him, play this clip. And tell us why it's so important that we get behind you. Well, City of Miami is Florida's flagship brand. So it's really important that we have a government that works for the people. And for the past few years in Florida, it's almost been embarrassing when we're on the national news and as the city government for corruption. And what that means for residents of the city, I'm one of those people, there's a high level of frustration that they are living in a city with so much potential energy, but the government's just It's not functioning.

12:39It's not paying any attention to them or their needs, particularly as we are confronting. We are the tip of the spear on the housing affordability crisis and, of course, on the resiliency sea level rise crisis. And they're tired. So they're frustrated with city government and corruption. And then we are also living in an environment of fear. Right. We have a government from Washington to Tallahassee that often says very unkind things. I call it trickle down hatred as how we describe the people that live in our community in Miami. Again, we are at the forefront of diversity and having been a diverse community.

13:22Ben Meiselas:Now, Miami's mayor position has been a cesspool of corruption under the current MAGA Republican mayor, Francis Suarez. He was somebody who came into office with not all that much money, but enriched himself in that office. Financial disclosure records obtained by the New Times reveal that while serving as mayor, he transformed a modest taxpayer-funded annual salary of$97 ,000 into a multi-million dollar fortune inflated by private consulting gigs, real estate deals, typical MAGA. Records attached at the bottom of the story show that while his net worth hovered around$400 ,000 during his$400 ,000 during his first year as mayor, it has since soared to more than$5 million.

14:13Ben Meiselas:His personal fortune includes a primary home value at over$2 million, five investment properties ranging in value from about$200 ,000 to more than$600 ,000, a$235 ,000 boat, plus nearly$600 ,000 in cryptocurrency. So folks, again, the big news here, Eileen Higgins will go on to win the Miami mayoral runoff election. And we have other news to report out of Florida as well. A Democratic candidate, Rob Long, will go on to defeat the MAGA candidate, Maria Zak. Get this by around 40 points or so. And that was a plus 10 Harris district. So a plus 30 overperformance there for the Democrats. Let me repeat that a plus 30 over performance.

15:08Ben Meiselas:And if you're talking about the Suarez 2021 race, I mean, you're talking about a swing of what, like basically 80 points in the opposite direction there. You take a look at a race from Florida Senate seat 11 this evening as well. This was a Trump plus 39 area, a very, very safe Trump area. A Republican went on to win this Florida Senate seat 11 in this Trump plus 39, but they ended up only going to win by what about 13 points. So again, another democratic over-performance here by about, uh, what about 25, 26 point over-performance here as well. So plus 25 over-performance, although the Democrat lost in Florida Senate seat 11, a plus 30 Democratic overperformance in Florida House 90 and Democrats flipping that mayor's seat.

16:04Ben Meiselas:Now, I wanna show you what a big trend that we've seen is. Donald Trump losing with the Latino community. We saw this right before the blue tsunami hit back in November, early November. And remember this right here, how it was being reported, the absolute tanking of Latino support. here play this clip. Yeah. What are we seeing? You know, one of the big shifts in 2024 from 2020 was that shift towards Donald Trump. Right. Immigration played a key role. And then I want to start off with Latinos on Trump and immigration. You know, back a year ago, what did we see on the issue of immigration? Latino voters trusted Kamala Harris more than Donald Trump, but by just two points.

16:42One, two. Look now at Donald Trump's net approval rating on immigration among Latinos. He He is 38 points underwater. That is a 36-point shift, essentially, from where we were a year ago on immigration. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are basically tied on the issue of immigration. And now on the issue of immigration, Latinos despise, hate Donald Trump. 38 points underwater. In their mind, he is doing something absolutely wrong when it comes to immigration. What about the Latino vote overall? What about the Latino vote overall? All right, how do Latinos feel about Donald Trump overall? Let's take a look here.

17:17this I think sort of gives the game away yeah oh my goodness I mean that is the phrase of the day Trump's not appropriating among Latinos in early February again he was just two points underwater look at where he is now late October minus 34 points 34 points underwater a shift to 32 points over the course of this year I should point out this is the CBS News you got poll but I was looking at the average polls I was looking at a wrong poll very similar shift 20, 25, 30 point shifts on the net approval rating away from Donald Trump among Latinos overall. Again, whatever Donald Trump is doing in office in the minds of Latinos, it is not working.

17:58They have turned against him in massive, massive numbers.

18:01Ben Meiselas:Now, Senator Ruben Gallego, who was also out in Miami actively campaigning for Eileen Higgins, he had this to say before the blue tsunami struck on that fateful Tuesday in early November. Play this clip. Look, I can tell you what I saw when I was campaigning in New Jersey and one of the most Latino areas of New Jersey when I was in Virginia, campaigning there in working class areas and Latino areas. People are worried about the cost of living and they're asking where it was and is the Republican Party and where is President Trump? They promised to bring down the cost of living. They promised to make things more livable.

18:40They promised to go after the criminals that are in our communities that are here illegally. Instead, what we're seeing is costs of everything going up and you're separating families and you're racial profiling Latinos. So I think you're going to see a very strong reaction tonight from very Latino areas of both states, really putting a check on this presidency and the lawlessness that is occurring under the guise of these Republicans.

19:03Ben Meiselas:Well, there you have it, folks. Miami turning back to blue. That mayor's race easily, easily won by Eileen Higgins. The MAGA candidate, Emilio Gonzalez, endorsed by Trump. Massive loss for Donald Trump. Massive embarrassment for the MAGA movement. Massive embarrassment for all Republicans. All right, hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. And thank you all so much for watching this.

19:37Ben Meiselas:by becoming a paid member of our YouTube channel today. You can also gift memberships to others. Let's keep growing together.

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