Attorneys from Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC, on behalf of Miami Mayoral candidate Emilio T. Gonzalez, will have their lawsuit heard Wednesday by the Circuit Court for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit after City Commissioners cancelled the 2025 mayoral election and moved it to November 2026. Attorneys filed their initial lawsuit on June 30 after the shocking 3-2 ruling.
Gonzalez, a U.S. Army veteran and former public servant, is running to succeed Francis Suarez as Miami's next mayor. The suit, which challenges the commission's decision, effectively grants Saurez and City Commissioners an extra year in office and puts Gonzalez's and other mayoral and commissioner candidates' political ambitions on hold.
"City of Miami Ordinance 17723 is unlawful and invalid,” Lead Counsel Alan Lawson of Lawson, Huck, and Gonzalez said in a press release. “By canceling the election for mayor and commissioner in November 2025, the City of Miami has decided that they, not voters, may determine who the city officials will be."
"The ordinance extends the terms of all sitting officials, including those who are term-limited and would not have appeared on the November 2025 ballot. It also mandates that future elections proceed in a manner that contradicts the City of Miami Charter," Lawson continued. "This undemocratic conduct mirrors the tactics of totalitarian regimes, cloaked in false paternalism: trust us, we know better. Local governments must remember that our democratic republic is a government of laws, not of men.”
Gonzalez is one of 10 candidates running to replace Suarez, who has been the 43rd mayor of Miami since 2017. Saurez also served on the City Commission from 2009 to 2017.
Under city rules, voter approval is required to move election dates. Before the vote, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier warned Suarez and City Commissioners not to cancel the election without first getting voter approval.
Gov. Ron DeSantis also agreed the city couldn't just make up its own rules.
“Clearly, Miami’s officials have lost their way by canceling an election, extending the terms of a term-limited mayor and commissioner, and altering future elections all without a voter referendum," Gonzalez said. "In a city often called the Exile Capital of the Americas, it is shocking that Miami’s leadership has mocked its noble legacy."
"Miami’s residents deserve the right to exercise their constitutional rights. I fought for those rights as a veteran, and I will continue to fight for them every day as a citizen of Miami," Gonzalez added.
