MIAMI—Miami mayoral candidate Emilio Gonzalez is continuing to fight against the City of Miami as it attempts to move the city's 2025 mayoral election and move it to November 2026. Gonzalez, who is running to succeed Mayor Francis Suarez, has been adamant that City Commissioners have tried to steal the election by moving it to next year.
"You're either going to have an election and let people vote on any number of things, including a referendum, or you're not," Gonzalez told The Floridian after arguments to Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal. "This is foolishness."
The legal battle proceeds after Commissioners Christine King, Ralph Rosado, and Damian Pardo voted 3-2 in June to effectively have their own election rules, a move many have equated to a "banana republic 2.0." Joe Carollo and Miguel Gabela voted against the change.
Last week, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Valerie Manno Schurr ruled in favor of Gonzalez's lawsuit that the commissioner's ordinance was unlawful and unconstitutional.
But the commissioners, in splitting hairs, have argued that by passing an ordinance, it purely changed the city code, and not the charter. So Miami appealed, leaving Gonzalez to once again voice his displeasure at Tuesday's hearing.
"The people are just upset. They really are," Gonzalez continued. "I mean, Miami, people can stomach quite a bit, but I think stealing an election is way, way beyond the pale, and I think we're seeing that now, people are pissed."
On the flipside, the city has said the move would coincide with federal races, boost voter turnout, and save money. And again, in creating their own rules, the city has ironically called for a special election this November for certain ballot questions.
Michael Hepburn, who's also running for mayor, echoed the hypocrisy.
"We're still going to have a special election, but for mayor and the city commission - don't worry about voting for that this year, we're gonna increase voter turnout for that and all that cool stuff, still come out and vote for a special election for ballot questions," Hepburn said. "But we're still saving money. The math is not mathing. You do that calculation for me, and get back to me."
Suarez, however, doesn't appear to be flinching. The mayor, who has held the position since 2017, even criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis over the semantics, while putting the blame on him to boot.
DeSantis called Miami's case nothing but a scheme last week.
"It was very strange for me and unexpected, particularly given the fact that we're relying on a state law," Suarez said. "If he didn't like the state law, which he is perfectly entitled to not like, he should have changed the state law. He's smart enough to know that."
With Suarez and City Commissioners seemingly not giving up, some are wondering if the legal fight could end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
"I don't think they'll have an avenue to take it to the Supreme Court," Lead Counsel Alan Lawson of Lawson, Huck, and Gonzalez PLCC said on behalf of Gonzalez, referencing that the city doesn't have much of a case. "We've argued positions that are consistent with Supreme Court precedent, and they won't really effectively have a way to get to the Supreme Court."
