Politics

Naya Young elected to Tampa City Council, defeating Thomas Scott in Special Runoff Election

Published

1 month ago

October 28, 2025

Grassroots activist Naya Young has been elected to Tampa City Council. The first-time candidate defeated Thomas Scott, who previously held local office in both the city and Hillsborough County.

With mail ballots partially counted, early vote totals completely reported and all but two precincts reporting totals, Young showed a lead too wide to bridge with outstanding votes, at nearly 61% of the vote.

As expected, voter turnout was low. As of 6:39 p.m., 21 minutes before polls closed, voter turnout was at just over 11%, or only a little more than 5,000 votes cast. Final voter turnout numbers will be available once all votes are counted.

Young will fill the remaining term of Gwen Henderson, who passed away this Summer. She’ll be sworn in Friday at 3 p.m.

Young has been a grassroots activist since she was a teenager, canvassing for the campaign of former Democratic Sen. James Hargrett before later working to help elect former Rep. Betty Reed.

She began nonprofit work with the Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association, later rising to become the group’s Executive Director. She now serves as a consultant for the group.

Among her advocacy efforts, Young pushed for walkable green spaces, diabetes awareness, and law enforcement reform. She has an undergraduate degree in culture and media communication from the University of South Florida and a master’s degree in political science from Howard University. She also received a nonprofit management certification from the University of Tampa.

Young’s victory comes despite being out-funded in the race. Scott was the top fundraiser, with nearly $95,000 raised as of Oct. 23. Young had raised just over $41,000 by that same point.

Young found herself in the runoff against Scott after finishing second in the Special Election last month.

The two survived a crowded Primary, when a dozen names were on the ballot and a 13th candidate filed as a write-in. The jam-packed race meant votes were spread thin, with Scott collecting 27% of the vote and Young 13%. Because neither reached the 50% plus one vote threshold needed to avert a runoff, voters are now hitting the polls a second time.

District 5 covers parts of downtown, East Tampa, Ybor City and parts of West Tampa.

Scott served as a County Commissioner from late 1996 through 2006 and ran again in 2020, ultimately losing in a crowded Democratic Primary to Gwen Myers, who continues to hold the seat. Scott also previously served on the Tampa City Council from 2007 to 2011.

Scott is also the senior pastor for the 34th Street Church of God. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of North Florida in criminal justice and corrections.

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Politics

Early voting underway for Miami Mayor’s runoff between Eileen Higgins, Emilio González

Published

49 minutes ago

December 6, 2025

May Greene

Early voting is underway in Miami as former County Commissioner Eileen Higgins and former City Manager Emilio González enter the final stretch of a closely watched Dec. 9 mayoral runoff.

The two candidates rose from a 13-person field Nov. 4, with Higgins winning about 36% of the vote and González taking 19.5%. Because neither surpassed 50%, Miami voters must now choose between contrasting visions for a city grappling with affordability, rising seas, political dysfunction and rapid growth.

Both promise to bring more stability and accountability to City Hall. Both say Miami’s permitting process needs fixing.

Higgins, a mechanical engineer and eight-year county commissioner with a broad, international background in government service, has emphasized affordable housing — urging the city to build on public land and create a dedicated housing trust fund — and supports expanding the City Commission from five to nine members to improve neighborhood representation.

She also backs more eco-friendly and flood-preventative infrastructure, faster park construction and better transportation connectivity and efficiency.

She opposes Miami’s 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling recent enforcement “inhumane and cruel,” and has pledged to serve as a full-time mayor with no outside employment while replacing City Manager Art Noriega.

González, a retired Air Force colonel, former Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and ex-CEO of Miami International Airport, argues Miami needs an experienced administrator to fix what he calls deep structural problems.

He has made permitting reform a top priority, labeling the current system as barely functioning, and says affordability must be addressed through broader tax relief rather than relying on housing development alone.

He supports limited police cooperation with ICE and wants Miami to prepare for the potential repeal of homestead property taxes. Like Higgins, he vows to replace Noriega but opposes expanding the commission.

He also vows, if elected, to establish a “Deregulation Task Force” to unburden small businesses, prioritizing capital investments that protect Miamians, increasing the city’s police force, modernizing Miami services with technology and a customer-friendly approach, and rein in government spending and growth.

Notably, Miami’s Nov. 4 election this year might not have taken place if not for González, who successfully sued in July to stop officials from delaying its election until 2026.

The runoff has drawn national attention, with major Democrats like Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, Arizona U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego and Orange County Mayor-turned-gubernatorial candidate Jerry Demings and his wife, former Congresswoman Val Demings, backing Higgins and high-profile Republicans like President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott lining up behind González.

For both parties, Miami’s outcome is seen as a bellwether heading into a volatile 2026 cycle, in a city where growth, climate challenges and governance failures remain top concerns for nearly 500,000 residents.

Higgins, a 61-year-old Democrat who was born in Ohio and grew up in New Mexico, entered the race as the longest-serving current member of the Miami-Dade Commission. She won her seat in a 2018 Special Election and coasted back into re-election unopposed last year.

She chose to vacate her seat three years early to run for Mayor.

She worked for years in the private sector, overseeing global manufacturing in Europe and Latin America, before returning stateside to lead marketing for companies such as Pfizer and Jose Cuervo.

In 2006, she took a Director job with the Peace Corps in Belize, after which she served as a foreign service officer for the U.S. State Department under President Barack Obama, working in Mexico and in economic development areas in South Africa.

Since filing in April, Higgins raised $386,500 through her campaign account. She also amassed close to $658,000 by the end of September through her county-level political committee, Ethical Leadership for Miami. Close to a third of that sum — $175,000 — came through a transfer from her state-level PC.

She also spent about $881,000.

If elected, Higgins would make history as Miami’s first woman Mayor.

González, a 68-year-old born in Cuba, brought the most robust government background to the race. A U.S. Army veteran who rose to the rank of colonel, he served as Miami City Manager from 2017 to 2020, CEO of Miami International Airport (MIA) from 2013 to 2017 and as Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush.

In private life, he works as a partner at investment management firm RSMD Investco LLC. He also serves as a member of the Treasury Investment Council under the Florida Department of Financial Services.

Since filing to run for Mayor in April, he raised nearly $1.2 million and spent about $1 million.

Election Day is Tuesday.

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Politics

Paul Renner doubles down on Cory Mills critique, urges more Republicans to join him

Published

2 hours ago

December 6, 2025

May Greene

Mills was a day-one Byron Donalds backer in the gubernatorial race.

A former House Speaker and current candidate for Governor is leading the charge for Republicans as scandal swirls around a Congressman.

Saying the “evidence is mounting” against Rep. Cory Mills, Paul Renner says other candidates for Governor should “stand up and be counted” and join him in the call for Mills to leave Congress.

Renner made the call earlier this week.

But on Friday, the Palm Coast Republican doubled down.

He spotlighted fresh reporting from Roger Sollenberger alleging that Mills’ company “appears to have illegally exported weapons while he serves in Congress, including to Ukraine,” that Mills failed to disclose conflicts of interest, “tried to fistfight other Republican members of Congress, and lied about his party stature to bully other GOP candidates out of primaries that an alleged romantic interest was running in,” and lied about his conversion to Islam.

The House Ethics Committee is already probing Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, over allegations of profiting from federal defense contracts while in Congress. More recently, the Committee expanded its work to review allegations that he assaulted one ex-girlfriend and threatened to share intimate photos of another.

Other candidates have been more reticent in addressing the issue, including Rep. Byron Donalds.

“When any other members have been involved and stuff like this, my advice is the same,” said Donalds, a Naples Republican. “They need to actually spend a lot more time in the district and take stock of what’s going on at home, and make that decision with their voters.”

The response came less than a year after Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, spoke at the launch of Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign.

___

Staff writer Jacob Ogles contributed reporting.

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Politics

Eileen Higgins brings out starpower as special election campaign nears close

Published

2 hours ago

December 6, 2025

May Greene

Prominent Democrats will be on hand at a number of stops.

Former Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins is enlisting more big names as support at early vote stops ahead of Tuesday’s special election for Mayor, including a Senate candidate, a former Senate candidate, and a current candidate for Governor.

During her canvass kickoff at 10 a.m at Elizabeth Virrick Park, Higgins will appear with U.S. Senate Candidate Hector Mujica.

Early vote stops follow, with Higgins solo at the 11 a.m. show-up at Miami City Hall and the 11:30 at the Shenandoah Library.

From there, big names from Orlando will be with the candidate.

Orange County Mayor and candidate for Florida Governor Jerry Demings and former Congresswoman Val Demings will appear with Higgins at the Liberty Square Family & Friends Picnic (2 p.m.), Charles Hadley Park (3 p.m.), and the Carrie P. Meek Senior and Cultural Center (3:30 p.m.)

Higgins, who served on the County Commission from 2018 to 2025, is competing in a runoff for the city’s mayoralty against former City Manager Emilio González. The pair topped 11 other candidates in Miami’s Nov. 4 General Election, with Higgins, a Democrat, taking 36% of the vote and González, a Republican, capturing 19.5%.

To win outright, a candidate had to receive more than half the vote. Miami’s elections are technically nonpartisan, though party politics frequently still play into races.

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