Despite controversy, Miami moved election date. One candidate has already sued
The 41-page complaint by Miami mayoral candidate Emilio González argues that the decision to move the city from odd- to even-year elections effectively granted Mayor Francis Suarez and city commissioners an additional year in power without the consent of voters.
'The commissioners unconstitutionally bypassed the democratic will of the people in a way that the Florida Constitution, the Miami-Dade Charter, and the City's Charter expressly prohibit,' the lawsuit alleges. 'Reminiscent of regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, or Cuba — the very places so many of Miami's people come from — those in power, while in power, forced upon those voters what they think is best for elections going forward — and secured for themselves additional time in power, without a vote of the electorate. That cannot stand.'
Representatives for the city did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday, but City Attorney George Wysong has defended the election change as appropriate and legal.
Suarez could still issue a veto on the controversial measure but would have to do so within 10 days of last week's city commission vote on June 26. However, that seems unlikely; the Herald previously reported that Suarez was working behind the scenes to push the even-year change.
Proponents of the measure, including its sponsor, Commissioner Damian Pardo, have argued that aligning elections with national races will boost voter turnout and prove a boon for democratic participation. But opponents have accused city officials of pursuing a self-serving extension of their terms. Florida's governor and attorney general both warned the city not to change the election date without first asking voters in a ballot referendum.
'Attorney General James Uthmeier has already warned that this violates the law, and Governor Ron DeSantis has strongly supported that position,' retired U.S. Army colonel González, a former Miami city manager, said in a press release announcing the lawsuit. 'Disenfranchising voters undermines our democracy and robs citizens of their voice at the ballot box.'
Ahead of last week's vote, Wysong defended the legal and ethical grounds of moving this year's election to 2026 to align with federal elections. 'Somebody is gonna get that extra year, whether you do it now, or next year, or two years from now,' Wysong said at the June 26 meeting.
Ultimately, Commissioners Pardo, Ralph Rosado and Christine King voted in favor of the measure, which passed by a vote of 3-2, with Commissioners Joe Carollo and Miguel Angel Gabela voting against the change.
In an interview Tuesday, González said commissioners had only offered 'nonsensical, bogus justifications' for the change.
'I've never sued anybody in my life and I've never run for public office so this is all new to me,' González told the Miami Herald. 'But I've spent my adult career as a U.S. Army officer serving around the world promoting and defending democracy — only to find I now have to promote and defend democracy here in my hometown.'
'I'm a real stickler for process and procedure,' González added. 'This isn't a campaign publicity stunt. I'm filing this as a voter.'
While González is the first to sue, other candidates who planned to run in the November 2025 election have been critical of the change as well.
'Miami voters want new leadership in the city. For them, these elections cannot come soon enough,' mayoral candidate Ken Russell, a former city commissioner, told the Herald. 'Commissioners enriching themselves and violating their own term limits erodes voter trust.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Thune says Senate Republicans have a deal to pass Trump megabill
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday morning that he thinks he has a deal with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to pass President Trump's tax and spending megabill — but also cautioned he's a 'realist,' indicating he's not counting anything as finished until the final vote is cast. Asked if he had a deal as he walked from the Senate floor to his office, Thune replied, 'I believe we do.' 'But, like I said, I'm of Scandinavian heritage, so I'm always a bit of a realist. We'll see what happens,' he said. Live updates: After 24-hour debate, Thune ready for megabill vote; Trump heads to 'Alligator Alcatraz' Thune's body language appeared significantly more relaxed after he and Murkowski reviewed a sheet of legislative text on the Senate floor while Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) hovered nearby. Thune was spotted alongside Murkowski poring over the document at a desk near the back wall of the Senate chamber shortly after 8 a.m. EDT Tuesday. A person familiar with the floor conversations said the Senate parliamentarian had approved revised language to soften the impact of Medicaid cuts and food assistance cuts on Alaska. Robert Duncan, the secretary of the Republican majority, and Gary Myrick, the secretary of the Democratic conference, were spotted in a discussion with the parliamentarian at the Senate dais a short time later. The deal with Murkowski breaks a deadlock that lasted throughout Monday night and into Tuesday morning. Thune, Crapo and Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) thought they had secured Murkowski's vote by crafting language to provide an enhanced federal Medicaid match for Alaska and a waiver to shield the state from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cuts. But Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough threw a wrench into those plans by ruling the initial Medicaid and SNAP provisions designed to help Alaska didn't comply with the Byrd Rule and therefore weren't eligible to pass the Senate with a simple-majority vote. Republican leadership and committee staff then spent hours Monday and early Tuesday morning to craft language that could secure the approval of both Murkowski and the parliamentarian. The situation looked dire for Thune and other Republicans only a few hours earlier. Murkowski appeared to resist the entreaties of Crapo and Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on the floor around 3:30 a.m. before she walked into Thune's office for a meeting. When Thune and Murkowski emerged from the majority leader's office to walk back to the floor, a reporter asked Thune if he would have to pull the bill. 'Those are options I don't want to have to worry about,' Thune told reporters. Even shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday, Thune wasn't completely sure he had Murkowski's support. A person familiar with the leadership's deliberations said Thune was planning to move forward with a vote to see for sure where Murkowski stood on the legislation after hours of haggling over Alaska-related provisions. The Senate started its marathon series of procedural and amendment votes related to the bill shortly after 9:30 a.m. Monday. Thune put the Senate chamber into an extended quorum call around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday to give senators a rest and GOP leadership staff and Finance Committee's staff more time to put the finishing touches on the deal with Murkowski and the final legislative text of the Senate bill. Thune can afford to lose three Republican votes and still pass the bill, with Vice President Vance casting a tiebreaking vote. Vance arrived at the Capitol as the sun rose. Updated at 11:29 a.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump says he thinks he's confident megabill will pass as senators prepare to vote
President Trump said Tuesday he was somewhat confident his tax and spending megabill can pass the upper chamber, as senators head to the floor to vote. When asked about his confidence level, the president replied, 'I don't know, what does confident mean when you have one vote and you have 100 people going to vote?' 'I think so,' he added. 'I think it's going to be the greatest bill ever passed. … Tremendous amount of homeland security, tremendous amount. It's going to keep the border secure.' The president landed in Florida to visit a new migrant detention center. During his flight, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters in Washington that he thinks he has a deal with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to pass the megabill. The leader cautioned he's a 'realist,' however, indicating he's not counting anything as finished until the final vote is cast. GOP leadership was hopeful it had secured Murkowski's vote by crafting language to provide an enhanced federal Medicaid match for Alaska and a waiver to shield the state from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cuts. When asked if he's concerned at all about cuts to Medicaid in the bill, Trump replied that cuts are only for 'waste, fraud and abuse.' 'The Democrats have it wrong. Waste, fraud and abuse,' he said. Before leaving for Florida, the president said he wants 'to keep it to' the self-imposed July 4 deadline, but he acknowledged difficulties with getting it passed the Senate and House in time. 'I'd love to do July 4, but I think it's very hard to do July 4. It was two months ago, I would think maybe July 4, but somewhere around there,' he said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
House Rules Committee advances Trump megabill as potential GOP revolt looms
The House Rules Committee advanced the GOP's sweeping tax and spending bill early Wednesday morning after an hours-long meeting, sending the legislation to the floor for consideration as its fate in the chamber remains unclear. The panel adopted the procedural rule in a 7-6 vote, with two Republicans — Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) — siding with Democrats against the measure, showcasing their opposition to the underlying legislation over deficit concerns. The hearing ran for nearly 12 hours, with Democrats needling Republicans about the bill, GOP lawmakers largely praising the measure and some hard-line conservatives criticizing its contents. The panel convened at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday and gaveled out just after 1 a.m. EDT on Wednesday. Despite the successful vote, the legislation is far from being out of the woods. The full chamber must now debate and vote to adopt the procedural rule, which could get dicey as a handful of hard-line conservatives vow to oppose the effort. If the rule fails, legislative business in the House would be brought to a standstill, threatening to thwart leadership's goal of sending President Trump the package by Friday. Republicans can afford to lose three votes and still clear the procedural hurdle, assuming full attendance and united Democratic opposition. The House is scheduled to convene on Wednesday at 9 a.m. EDT, with debate first, then a vote. Two of those defectors, however, are already called for: Norman and Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, say they will vote against the rule on the floor — and Harris said others will join them. 'That's exactly why a group of us are not going to vote to advance the bill until we iron out some of the deficit problems with the bills,' Harris said on Fox News when asked about Elon Musk's criticism of the bill. 'Look, Mr. Musk is right, we cannot sustain these deficits, he understands finances, he understands debts and deficits, and we have to make further progress. And I believe the Freedom Caucus will take the lead in making that further progress.' 'I don't think the votes are there, just like they weren't for the Senate initially until some concessions were made,' he added. 'I believe that the rule vote will not pass tomorrow morning, and then the Speaker's going to have to decide how he gets this back into the House framework.' Rule votes have historically been routine, mundane occurrences, with the majority party voting in favor of the effort and the minority party voting against it. In recent years, however, those on the right-flank have used the procedure to express displeasure with specific legislation or leadership. Despite those threats, attendance issues may scuttle the right-flank's plans. A number of members from both parties are having trouble returning to Washington amid inclement weather in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area. Several lawmakers have said their flights back to the city were canceled. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday night said those conditions could influence when the bill comes up for a vote. 'We're having weather delays getting everybody back right now, but assuming we have a full House, we'll get it through the Rules Committee in the morning, we'll move that forward to the floor and hopefully we're voting on this by tomorrow or Thursday at latest, depending on the weather and delays and all the rest; that's the wildfire that we can't control,' Johnson said on Fox News's 'Hannity' when asked about timing for the legislation. Regardless, the megabill's future in the House is on thin ice as a number of Republicans — from hard-line conservatives to moderates — stake opposition to the legislation, threatening leadership's goal of enacting the bill by Friday. Conservatives are upset with the amount of money the bill would add to the deficit, while moderates are concerned about Medicaid cuts and the rollback of green-energy tax credits. The lawmakers prefer the original House bill, which they passed in May, over the Senate bill, which included a number of changes to their initial legislation. Despite the lingering qualms, Johnson is showing no interest in changing the bill — which would require it to head back to the Senate for a final stamp of approval, a reality that most members have little appetite for. 'We knew we would come to this moment. We knew the Senate would amend the House product. I encouraged them to amend it as lightly as possible. They went a little further than many of us would have preferred, but we have the product now,' Johnson told reporters in the Capitol. 'As the President said, it's his bill. It's not a House bill, it's not a Senate bill, it's the American people's bill. And my objective and my responsibility is to get that bill over the line. So we will do everything possible to do that, and I will work with all of our colleagues.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
