City of renters or owners? Miami mayor candidate lays out what’s at stake in race
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SPECIAL: Miami Republican mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez accuses progressive Democratic rival Eileen Higgins of wanting to “create a city of renters” despite her message of affordability. Instead, he proposes a plan that would make Miami a “city of haves.”
Gonzalez and Higgins will face each other in a runoff election on December 9, after no candidate received 50 percent of the votes on election night on November 4.
Higgins received 35.96 percent of the votes, while Gonzalez received 19.47 percent. Higgins, a Miami-Dade County commissioner who resigned from his post to run for mayor, emphasized “building an affordable and prosperous future.” He touted his accomplishments as county commissioner in investing nearly $3 million in small business grants and building nearly 7,000 affordable housing units.
However, in an interview with Fox News Digital, Gonzalez, a military veteran, former West Point instructor and business leader, warned that although Higgins’ campaign emphasized affordability, her policies would disrupt the American dream and keep citizens in permanent renter status.
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Republican candidate Emilio Gonzalez, backed by Democratic County Commissioner Eileen Higgins and Gov. Ron DeSantis, entered the Dec. 9 runoff election that will determine Miami’s next mayor after no candidate received 50% of the vote. (Tribune News Service via Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Getty Images; Rebecca Blackwell; The Associated Press)
Gonzalez has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.
“It could point to some votes on the county commission to help put a building here or there. But it’s really not a significant development,” Gonzalez told Fox News Digital. “The affordability issue sounds great but it makes absolutely no sense because it hasn’t really done much when it comes to affordability.”
“Miami right now is so expensive, nothing is affordable,” he continued. “We’re in a situation where our young people are having to leave after they graduate college because the jobs here don’t pay enough. Apartments are too expensive. Forget mortgages. There’s nothing selling for less than five or six hundred thousand dollars in Miami right now. And the jobs aren’t going to support that.”
Meanwhile, he goes after Higgins, who has expressed his belief in affordability, saying he “wants to create a city full of renters.”
“I also want to create a city of property owners, I want property owners,” he said. “They want to talk about convenience, everyone does. They want to talk about the challenges of public transportation, everyone does. But it’s about what the solution is, and I think that’s where we differ.”
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Cityscape of Miami, Florida, USA. (iStock)
“We have very different views on how to move the city forward and what’s best for our residents. He believes in a very statist approach where the government should go out and help people build, build, build, build, build and never own, just rent,” he said. “And I want to make sure our residents have enough money in their pockets so they can buy a home and then buy a condominium first or buy a starter home.”
“The last thing I would do is allow Miami to fall into the same trap that you see in New York, or bankrupt Chicago, or Los Angeles, which frankly looks like a wasteland downtown. It’s not going to happen in Miami, it’s not.”
He praised DeSantis for advancing an agenda to eliminate property taxes in Florida; It was a policy he said he would implement if elected mayor of Miami.
“I appreciate that Governor DeSantis wants to eliminate property taxes. We can do it. We can do it and we’ll do it without missing a beat,” he said. “Right now, property taxes make up less than seven percent of the city budget. You know what? I think we can find seven percent efficiencies to offset that.”
“This is just the beginning,” he continued, adding, “I think there are other opportunities to put money in people’s pockets through efficiencies by using our resources and making it affordable again.”
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Miami Mayor Francis Suarez speaks at a press conference at Miami City Hall on Tuesday, October 12, 2021. (Lynne Sladky/AP Photo)
Despite Higgins’ lead on election night, Gonzalez said he was optimistic about his chances of success.
“This is a generational choice,” he said. “It will not be an easy race. It will be a tight race. It will probably be a five-point race. But we are definitely not giving up. We refuse to give up on our future.”
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Pointing to other US cities such as New York and countries that have adopted socialist policies such as Cuba, Gonzalez said, “Miami residents, the vast majority of whom come from socialist countries where socialists have taken over and destroyed their cities, homes and families, do not want this here.”
“We see what’s happening in other cities in the United States, and… they don’t want it here. I’m their candidate, too, and I’m going to make sure it doesn’t happen here, even though it’s happened in other places in Latin America and in the United States.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Higgins’ campaign for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
The winner of the runoff election will replace current Republican Mayor Francis Suarez, who is term-limited.
