It’s official: Miami cancels November election, postpones it to 2026
With less than five months to go before Miami residents were scheduled to head to the polls to vote on a new mayor and city commissioners, the city of Miami has postponed the upcoming November election to 2026 in a move that critics have described as a “power grab.” On Thursday, the Miami City Commission voted 3-2 to move the city from odd- to even-year elections — a change that its proponents said will drastically increase voter turnout. But the decision also comes with fine print.
As a result, the city’s elected officials will get an extra year in office. That includes Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Joe Carollo, who are both term limited. Suarez, a former city commissioner, will get a 17th consecutive year in Miami City Hall, and Carollo will get a ninth. Commissioners Damian Pardo, Ralph Rosado and Christine King voted in favor of the election date change, and Commissioners Miguel Angel Gabela and Carollo voted against.
Miami mayor is lobbying behind the scenes for proposal to skip November election Pardo, the item’s sponsor, has argued that changing to even-year elections is a much-needed reform that will significantly increase voter participation while also saving the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in election costs. But some have questioned whether the city actually has the authority to change the election date without voter approval. The city charter states that municipal elections take place in odd years, and charter changes require voter approval.
State says Miami can’t move city election without voter input. Who’s right? During the public comment section of the commission meeting Thursday, some residents said they believed the proposed change should be put on a ballot for voters to decide. “This commission is doing the right thing for the wrong reasons,” said Rammel Guzman, 49, who told the officials they were reminding him of the kind of autocratic rule that drove him to immigrate to the United States. “I was born in Venezuela, and in 1999 the constitution was reformed by Chávez, and even he put it to a vote — we need to do better than that.” Commissioner Joe Carollo, left, and Chairwoman Christine King listen to public comment from someone who is against SR-1, legislation that cancels the November 2025 election and moves it to 2026, during a
Morningside resident Sandy Moise agreed, telling the officials: “Commissioners should not be voting to cancel elections and give themselves and the mayor an extra year in power. That’s not a democracy, that’s voter suppression.”
Other residents said that changing to even-year elections would strengthen democracy by encouraging more voters to turn out.
Branden Jones, 34, said that keeping the current election schedule was tantamount to voter suppression. “It plays on the ignorance of so many individuals in our communities,” said Jones, a pastor. “If we want more civic engagement, why not allow everything to be on the ballot when we know most people are coming out to vote?”
Pardo shared a similar sentiment as he urged the commission to pass the proposal.
“Voter participation goes from an estimated 10% to 15% — to 60% or 65%, and that is huge,” Pardo said. And he argued that commissioners should act quickly.
“If we wait for another cycle, another election, for other people to show up, we may never have this chance again,” Pardo said.
But Carollo disagreed, arguing that the measure had broad appeal and could easily be passed in the future. “If this is such a slam dunk where everybody wants it, why are you afraid to wait?” Carollo said, adding that he agreed with an opinion by Florida’s attorney general that the commission did not have the authority to change the election date.
“We all know that if this passes today, it will wind up in the courts,” Carollo said.
Reaction from candidates
Several declared candidates have questioned and criticized the election date change. Mayoral candidate and former City Manager Emilio González has called the move “a power grab to stay in office” and said that city of Miami voters “have been disenfranchised.”
“We are outraged by City of Miami elected officials who, despite warnings from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier that canceling the November 2025 Miami election would violate the law, persist in this action,” he said in a statement Thursday. “ … This illegal act by the City of Miami elected officials will not stand!”
Eileen Higgins, a current Miami-Dade County commissioner and another candidate for city of Miami mayor, also responded Thursday.
“City leaders’ decision to extend their terms by a full year without voter approval highlights the dysfunction in our government,” Higgins said in a statement. “While I support moving city elections to even years to boost turnout, bypassing voters was wrong.” A third mayoral candidate echoed that sentiment.
“Even year voting is a good thing,” said Ken Russell, a former city commissioner, “but this is the slippery slope of bad government — where you have good intentions, but you start bending the rules to get there.”
Russell, who filed to run for mayor in March, said the decision should have been left up to voters, not the commission.
“The emoluments clause in our charter precludes any commissioner — or the mayor — from voting to enrich themselves,” Russell said. “This vote today, giving themselves an extra year — it’s also giving themselves an extra $100,000 in salary.”
Where city leaders disagree with state officials
Earlier this month, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a written opinion saying the city does not have the authority to move the election date without voter approval in a ballot referendum. In a post on X, Gov. Ron DeSantis concurred with Uthmeier. But City Attorney George Wysong has publicly disagreed.
“We believe we’re in good standing with the Florida Constitution,” Wysong said Thursday before the commission, laying out an argument refuting the state attorney general’s opinion.
“We believe it’s legal and consistent with Florida law,” Wysong said, pointing to what he said was a precedent set by the city of North Miami, which recently changed its elections to even years. That decision was challenged in court and went up to the Third District Court of Appeals, which affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the city had the authority to make the change. Wysong also argued Thursday that the proposal was not a self-serving measure for the commission.
“No matter how you slice it, if you move the dates of the election, somebody is gonna get an extra year,” Wysong said. “This doesn’t necessarily benefit anybody.”
What’s next
Thursday’s vote could cause a major shakeup to the city’s political landscape. So far, 18 people have filed to run for one of the three open seats in November: mayor, District 3 commissioner and District 5 commissioner. Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, seen at the commission meeting on Thursday, June 26, 2025, voted against changing the election date. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com
Carollo, who previously served as mayor in the ‘90s, has long been teasing another run for mayor, but he has yet to officially file for the race. Political insiders have said the election date change could deal a blow to a Carollo candidacy, as he could face an uphill battle getting elected to a citywide seat when voter turnout is higher. The election date change also clears the way for another Pardo reform measure.
Last week, the City Commission voted to direct the city attorney to draft legislation that would create lifetime term limits for elected officials. The item needs to come back to the commission for final approval, at which point it would be sent to voters on the November ballot — now in a special election since the main election has been postponed. If voters pass the lifetime term limits proposal, elected officials in Miami will be limited to two terms as mayor and two terms as commissioner for their lifetime.
While Pardo has argued that the measure has widespread support, it will also face an opposition campaign from those invested in keeping term limits as-is. As it stands now, elected officials in the city are limited to two consecutive terms as mayor and two consecutive terms as commissioner, but they can return after sitting out for one term.
