Outrage followed Miami's vote to move election. Now some are trying to reverse it

Yahoo

04-07-2025

Absurdity.
A brazen power grab.
Disenfranchisement. A slap in the face to democracy. The most self-serving non-solution. An absolute disgrace.
Those are some of the things being said about the decision Miami city commissioners made last week to cancel the upcoming November election, where voters would have chosen a new mayor and two commissioners. The change was made to move the city's elections to even years, aligning it with the federal election cycle, starting in November 2026.
Those criticisms are much different from how the item's sponsor, Commissioner Damian Pardo, explained it: a legal and applicable reform. While seemingly fewer, supporters of the change have called it common sense and a victory for future voter turnout.
Just hours after the City Commission voted 3-2 to approve the controversial ordinance, Mayor Francis Suarez signed the measure into law, effectively extending his — and the commissioners' — terms in office for one more year. Outrage, both from residents and candidates who planned to run this November, quickly followed.
As news spread across social media, the commission's vote garnered national attention, with some connecting the local issue to larger concerns about democratic processes and institutions. As debate and interest intensified online, some political leaders became the targets of scorn while others enjoyed a sudden, unexpected swell of support.
Several mayoral hopefuls are already turning their campaigns into crusades to restore the November election.
One of those candidates, Emilio González, has already sued, calling the commission's decision 'an outrageous abuse of power,' and another has threatened legal action. Voters have begun receiving surveys asking if they would support a recall of Pardo. And some are looking toward a possible intervention by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier, who both admonished the city against moving the election without first getting voter input through a ballot question.
Activist and mayoral hopeful Michael Hepburn told the Miami Herald he's hoping to 'fight back' with other candidates, including by attempting a recall of Pardo. Hepburn said that, like González, he plans to sue the city, alongside residents from several districts.
As news broke Friday that the mayor had already signed the election ordinance, Hepburn said he wasn't surprised.
'Mayor Francis Suarez has been a self-serving politician in this city for years, and this is just another example of him using his public office to benefit himself,' Hepburn argued.
Suarez did not respond to reporters' attempts to reach him for comment.
Over the last week, González said his campaign has received a sudden boost in support and attention. He shared images with the Herald showing his campaign's average website traffic recently surged by over 10,000%.
'People are energized; folks who in the past couldn't care less, now they care,' González said. 'People usually ask about why you're running — now everyone knows why I'm running.'
In the last week, Miami's election change jumped to the fore of conversations in online forums like Reddit. The social media pages and posts of elected officials were also inundated with debate over the ordinance.
'If it's so popular then why didn't you allow your constituents to vote on it?' read one comment under a video Pardo posted to Instagram addressing objections to the legislation.
'You disappointed me today more than ever,' someone else wrote below a post from Commissioner Christine King, who backed the measure.
While some commenters supported the change, saying it would increase voter participation, others connected the commission's vote to concerns expressed by last month's 'No Kings' protests, responding with references to 1776 and remarks like 'America, we don't do kings.'
'I'm seeing many on social media comparing this to Trump's potential effort to violate term limits,' said Ken Russell, one of the mayoral candidates.
A former city commissioner, Russell said he believes in increasing voter turnout by moving to even-year elections — but only if voters approve of doing so in a ballot referendum.
Many younger voters feel similarly, said Luna Plaza, a student at the University of Miami.
'We want higher turnout, especially for youth voters — but this was undemocratic,' said Plaza, an activist involved with several advocacy groups. 'They stole a year of political participation from an entire cohort of young people. Three commissioners decided that they knew better than the people.'
James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, echoed those remarks: 'Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with moving the election date, it should be decided by the voters.'
González is banking on his lawsuit ending with the courts voiding the ordinance and forcing the city to reinstate a November 2025 election. 'I know we'll win big, and the city of Miami will have egg on its face,' González said.
Through a spokesperson, Pardo said he was unable to comment on issues tied to current litigation involving the city, which moved swiftly to dismiss González's lawsuit.
In a motion filed this week, the city argued that state law allows cities to align local elections with statewide contests, regardless of whether that extends the terms of current officials. The city argued such changes can be enacted by ordinance and without requiring a public vote.
State officials have disagreed.
'It is wrong for incumbent politicians to cancel elections and unilaterally extend their terms in office,' DeSantis said in a June 26 social media post, threatening a 'swift legal response' if the change was enacted. Uthmeier, the state's attorney general, previously issued an opinion that changing the election's date without voter approval violates the state constitution and county charter.
Since the City Commission's vote, neither DeSantis nor Uthmeier appears to have publicly commented on the decision, and neither responded to inquiries from the Herald.
Commissioner Joe Carollo, who was joined by Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela in voting against the change, said he expected a judge would rule against the city.
'The courts will agree that this decision can't stand,' Carollo said.
Russell, a Democrat, said he found himself in the odd position of supporting Republican state officials' interpretation of the law.
'It's a real Twilight Zone to find myself agreeing with Governor DeSantis and the attorney general,' said Russell, 'but in this case, I do.'