A high-dollar fundraiser invitation circulating this week for Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins’ mayoral bid appears on its face to be a standard political reception with glossy graphics, familiar developer hosts, and predictable fundraising language. But according to multiple sources who requested anonymity to speak freely, the event is being powered behind the scenes by a trio of controversial Republican political figures with deep personal motivations and long histories tied to Miami’s development establishment.
Sources allege that former Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez and former City of Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo have all been working the phones, lining up donors, and directing resources into the event. None of them is listed on the invitation, but privately, they are described as the quiet engines driving the fundraiser. The reason, according to those close to the process, is clear: powerful development interests want Higgins in office and view Emilio Gonzalez as a threat to their plans.
Monday’s fundraiser is being described by insiders as the mega developer event of the election. Many of the hosts have direct financial stakes in redevelopment schemes, zoning changes, and land use expansions that Miami residents have strongly opposed, especially in the Upper East Side, Morningside, and other neighborhoods fighting encroachment and density increases. Several hosts are tied to earlier efforts to expand density citywide that voters recently rejected at the ballot box, but that are now being revived quietly through backdoor maneuvers.
Residents say the connections are now impossible to ignore. Morningside resident and Morningside Civic Association MCA member Brian Hollenbeck, who has been at the forefront of neighborhood advocacy, described what he and others see emerging in real time:
“What people need to understand is that in our neighborhood, a group of MCA board members who work in large development firms, including Integra and Adler, have been aggressively promoting a controversial right-of-way construction plan that affects residents’ property, trees, drainage, and environmental protections. And at the very same time, those same development circles are now hosting a major fundraiser seen in that photo. When you connect those dots, the pattern becomes clear: the political machine pushing disruptive construction onto residents is the same machine lining up behind the candidate developers want in the mayor’s office. For many of us, that overlap is not a coincidence; it is the whole story.”
“The main impediment to concrete kings continuing to mow down our neighborhoods is that Emilio Gonzalez and Eileen Higgins are only glad to help them pave the way. Even with some of the most controversial Republicans,” said a source who requested the name be withheld because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
“This is the reason I ran, so this son of a bitch won't be mayor of Miami," said Commissioner Carollo to a Republican advocate in a video obtained by The Floridian.
One neighborhood advocate familiar with the host committee echoed this sentiment, saying the fundraiser shows developers circling the wagons because they trust Higgins to support their agenda and fear Emilio Gonzalez will not.
The involvement of Lago, Hernandez, and Carollo, three Republicans working to elevate a progressive Democrat, has raised eyebrows across Miami. But insiders emphasize that ideology has nothing to do with it. Carollo, in particular, is believed to be motivated by self-preservation. After costing City of Miami taxpayers more than 22 million dollars in legal judgments and fees, he is widely thought to fear Gonzalez’s promise to conduct a full audit of the city’s finances. As one Republican insider put it, Carollo knows an Emilio administration means accountability. He does not want that. Higgins is said to be the safer option.
Carlos Hernandez, who has faced a long trail of ethics controversies, is also said to be helping drive donor outreach. His decades-long alignment with development interests makes his involvement unsurprising. Meanwhile, Vince Lago, long aligned with major developers in Coral Gables, has reportedly encouraged donors to get behind Higgins early because of her consistent support for development-friendly initiatives.
Political operatives say this fundraiser reveals a truth long whispered in Miami: certain Republican insiders quietly back Democrats when the development industry demands it. As one longtime Miami operative said, "These guys do not care about the party. They care about zoning, density, and contracts. Emilio threatens that system."
At the same time, grassroots Republicans after remaining largely neutral or fragmented in the first round are now consolidating behind Emilio Gonzalez. But elite political operatives tied to the development industry have moved sharply in the opposite direction, choosing Higgins as the candidate who will preserve their influence at City Hall.
Many of the developer firms associated with the fundraiser are also closely tied to the Miami Downtown Development Authority. The DDA has been widely criticized for double taxing Homestead residents within its district, failing to address public safety and basic cleanliness, and spending heavily on commercial incentives, flashy sponsorships, and sporting events instead of neighborhood priorities. Residents across the city have labeled the DDA corporate welfare central, a troubled organization that serves developers before taxpayers.
Higgins served as vice chair of the DDA and consistently supported these initiatives, including supporting the giveaway of the historic Olympia Theatre.
Neighborhood activists say Higgins has repeatedly backed development expansions under the politically appealing label of affordable housing, even when the projects were not affordable and fueled displacement in Little Havana, Coconut Grove, Liberty City, Allapattah, Lemon City, and other communities. Critics argue that these moves have accelerated gentrification while enriching the same developers now bankrolling this week’s fundraiser.
With Morningside, the Upper East Side, and other neighborhoods mobilizing against encroachment, the timing and structure of this fundraiser is raising alarms citywide. Opponents argue that it is the clearest sign yet that developers want full control of Miami City Hall, that Higgins will reliably support their agenda, and that Emilio Gonzalez who has promised to open the books, clean up City Hall, and end soft corruption is the threat they want to stop.
For years insiders whispered about an unspoken rule in Miami politics: party labels do not matter. Development interests do. This fundraiser appears to confirm it.
