21h ago

A Democratic mayor for Miami is not just Trump backlash – it’s a seismic shift

www.theguardian.com

Eileen Higgins’s win has reset the city’s political landscape in some ways not seen in 28 years, and in others not at all

Miami's new mayor, Eileen Higgins, hailed it as "a new day" for the city after the Democrat ended three decades of Republican rule on Tuesday night in a stunning election triumph.

In reality, the result is more of a seismic shifting of sands given the magnitude of her victory over the Donald Trump-backed Republican candidate, Emilio González, in the most populous city in Miami-Dade county, which the president won in 2024 by 12%.

Higgins won the run-off with almost 60% of the vote, according to preliminary results reported Wednesday by the Miami Herald. More than just further evidence of a growing national backlash against Trump's policies on the national stage, particularly immigration, her win has reset Miami's political landscape in a manner not seen in some ways in 28 years, and in others not at all.

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1d ago

Miami’s new Democratic mayor signals not just a backlash to Trump, but a seismic shift

www.theguardian.com /us-news/2025/dec/10/miami-mayor-eileen-higgins-trump-backlash

26 comments

Can we get a progressive tho?
- If we educate people on why progressive ideals are good for them (and mostly, their wallets), then yes in time. If we just assume Joe Everyman is spontaneously going to take up socialism as a hobby when everything else is telling them it's terrible, then no.
It is Trump backlash. It will last a cycle or two, in which Democrats will pass some small policies that slightly soften the edges of our modern dystopia, and then Republicans will come back to power and continue the march into misery for the masses.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratchet_effect
- The alternative would be the church committee, where you have a substantial review and then action taken to help prevent it.
Red states are redrawing their districts based on 2024 margins. This may bite them in the ass, especially in Texas, if they expect their massive gains with Latinos to hold after the ICE horror show and terrible economy. All of their new R+8 gerrymandered districts might not be as safe as they thought in a D+10 midterm.
- Not to sound negative, but they're going to cheat more. There was a guy that said he's being turned away to vote in Texas even though he's a US citizen.
  https://sh.itjust.works/post/51354464
  
  That’s pretty messed up, but according to the article they only sent that letter out to a couple thousand people, which is not many in a state that size. It’s going to be hard for them to mess with voting eligibility on a large scale. Even stuff like this (which could be illegal), where they make some people jump through extra hoops to be able to vote, could end up depressing more Republican votes than Democratic ones. The big political realignment of the past 10 years has be largely along education lines - those with 4-year degrees or more sorting to Democrats, and those with less education sorting to Republicans. This flips the old system (poor Dems/rich Republicans) on its head. Things like voter ID laws, which are intended to inconvenience and depress the vote of people who don’t have their shit together, aren’t going to disproportionately hurt Democrats the way they used to, and could in fact have the reverse effect.
- This may bite them in the ass, especially in Texas,
  Or not, an example Ted Ceuz is the most reviled poltican in Texas and keeps being reelected.
  
  Texas is still a red state, so statewide races like Ted’s US Senate seat are a stretch. Though Beto amazingly got within 2 points in 2018!
I don’t want Democratic wins. I want non-neoliberal wins to pass legislation that will stop capitulating to capitalists.
- Good luck getting a city of ex-Cubans that despise everything about communism and stan capitalism harder than your average white guy to get behind your wishes.
  ETA: A recent article that paints a vivid perspective around this.
- At the current state of things I'll take a step back from the cliff rather than a step off.
  Arguably we are off the cliff and you want to argue if the hand of the person pulling you back up meets your moral tests. If they don't you demand they release you so you can continue to fall while you wait for your ideal savior. Hopefully they reach you before you reach the bottom
  
  You are assuming that the hand is actually pulling you up. That’s a mistake.
  That strategy has been the predominant one for the Democratic Party since the 1990s. How has the country been doing since then?
- it's people like you that got trump elected
  congratulations
  haven't you worked out politics yet?
  
  Really?
  It wasn’t the ineffective neoliberal policies that have done nothing to improve to lives of Americans?
  What isn’t surprising is that centrist will blame everything on the people to their left.
  Ask Hillary Clinton why she lost. It wasn’t her “I will attract suburban Republicans and I will do nothing else” campaign. It was the Bernie supporters.
  Ask Kamala Harris why she lost. It wasn’t her “I will attract suburban Republicans and I will do nothing else” campaign. It was the leftists pointing out her support of genocide and neoliberalism.
  Centrists are shameless liars that have no ability to look in the mirror.
- Rome wasn't built in a day. Every vote away from the far right is a better chance at creating a true progressive shift. I wish it could happen that fast but it won't. We need to take what is realistic now and NOT STOP PUSHING. This is a huge undertaking for these areas
  
  My point is that electing Democrats is not enough. We cannot afford to elect centrists to continue to kneecap any and all legislation to the point that it is ineffective. It only proves the GOP talking point that government is ineffective.
  Centrists only exist to appeal to the right and blame the left. Centrists 100% expect the full support of every leftist while they will do nothing to benefit them.
- You're getting downvoted but I agree. Neoliberals will do nothing but say slightly meaner words to Trump as he kidnaps their constituents.

26 comments