A planned Monday night forum featuring Miami mayoral candidates Emilio González and Eileen Higgins is no longer happening after González’s campaign waffled about whether he could participate.
González’s team informed event organizers on Sunday that he wouldn’t be able to take part in the forum due to a “personal issue.”
The campaign then changed tack Monday morning, saying González would be able to participate after all, but he’d have to arrive later than the original 7 p.m. start time.
By then, Higgins’ campaign had already scheduled something else.
Shortly after González’s campaign said he wouldn’t attend the forum — which was to be held at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church — organizers alerted the Higgins campaign to the change. They discussed instead hosting a single-candidate “town hall,” which would still be live-streamed to those unable to attend in person, among the roughly 100 people who had reserved seats.
Higgins ultimately turned down the offer.
González’s Communications Director, Andrew Trabazo, said that while González had previously confirmed he would participate, an unforeseen issue arose that initially prompted the campaign to pull out.
By Monday morning, he said, it appeared González would still be able to attend, albeit “maybe 30 minutes” late.
“In all likelihood, there’s a very strong chance we’re going to make it,” Trabazo told Florida Politics.
Event organizer Mel Meinhardt of One Grove Alliance said Trabazo was “deeply apologetic” for the confusion that led to the cancellation after learning that Higgins had moved on.
“Higgins’ campaign made a decision to attend based on a set of circumstances that no longer existed. The ground shifted underneath them,” Meinhardt said.
“González (said he) wasn’t going to show up, so Higgins’ campaign considered things overnight and came back to me early this morning and said, ‘No, it doesn’t make sense for us overall to attend.’ So, we mobilized to fully cancel the event and see what we can do in the future.”
Higgins’ campaign strongly criticized the situation, arguing that the timeline and cancellation reflected poorly on González’s leadership style.
“In what can be seen as a slap in the face to Coconut Grove residents and the community organizations who spent weeks organizing tonight’s forum, Mr. González’s eleventh-hour cancellation is yet another example of how this City Hall insider would govern as Mayor,” campaign manager Christian Ulvert said in a statement. “He’s taking a page from his new endorsers’ playbook by refusing to answer questions and ducking the debate.”
Late Sunday, President Donald Trump issued an effusive endorsement of González. Trump refused to debate former Vice President Kamala Harris after meeting her on stage once ahead of Election Day last year.
Florida Politics asked Ulvert what Higgins’ new Monday commitment is and will update this story upon receipt of an answer.
By the time Florida Politics contacted Meinhardt Monday morning, the event’s organizers, which also included the Coconut Grove Village Council and Coconut Grove Spotlight, were already disassembling the stage.
Online notices for the now-canceled forum saw limited engagement. One Instagram post by the Coconut Grove Democratic Club featuring AI-generated images of González and Higgins that bear only a passing resemblance to the candidates had eight likes and no comments after three days.
Two other posts on Facebook by the Grove Watch Group and the Women’s Club of Coconut Grove received comparable interaction.
González and Higgins appeared together onstage last Thursday at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Miami-Dade at Miami Dade College’s Koubek Center. The event received coverage from several local outlets.
The two are competing in a Dec. 9 runoff after neither secured a majority of the vote earlier this month.
Higgins took 36% of the vote in the city’s Nov. 4 General Election, while González received 19.5%, outpacing 11 other contenders.
