For the second time, appeals court blocks Miami’s effort to delay election
The city of Miami has lost its latest bid to postpone the November 2025 election to 2026.
On Friday afternoon, Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal denied the city’s request for a rehearing in the election lawsuit brought by mayoral candidate Emilio González, who sued in June after the City Commission passed an ordinance postponing the election to next year.
This month, the Third DCA upheld a lower court’s ruling finding the city’s decision to postpone the election via ordinance and without voter approval to be unconstitutional. That prompted the city to ask for a rehearing en banc, meaning before the entire appellate court rather than a three-judge panel.
In their ruling Friday, the judges did not provide an explanation for the denial.
The ruling deals the latest blow to the city’s quest to postpone the election. The measure’s proponents in City Hall, mainly Commissioner Damian Pardo and Mayor Francis Suarez, have argued that moving from odd- to even-year elections will increase voter turnout while cutting election costs.
But critics have called the city’s move a power grab, arguing it’s undemocratic to change an election date without voter input. The change would give the city’s current elected officials an extra year in office, even Suarez and Commissioner Joe Carollo, who are both termed out at the end of the year. Carollo voted against the change.
With one week to go before candidate qualifying begins, it’s unclear if the city will seek to have the case heard before the Florida Supreme Court. City Attorney George Wysong and attorney Dwayne Robinson, whom the city hired as outside counsel in the case, did not immediately respond to questions asking about the city’s next steps.
González, whose lead attorney in the case is a former Florida Supreme Court justice, said he doesn’t think the city would have any success if it chose to go to the state’s highest court.
“The chances of them winning there are probably zero,” González, a former Miami city manager, said Friday in light of the latest ruling.
He added that the city is using “house money” to litigate the case.
“I’m paying for it, you’re paying for it, and they just don’t want to let it go,” González said. “It’s almost like they’re purposely wasting taxpayer money.”
The appellate court’s denial leaves the city in a state of limbo as November quickly approaches. Miami residents are expected to cast their votes for a new mayor and two city commissioners in about two months, with candidate qualifying scheduled to run from Sept. 5 to Sept. 20.
The city clerk’s office and the Miami-Dade Elections Department have told the Miami Herald that they are proceeding as if the election is taking place on Nov. 4 of this year.
This story was originally published August 29, 2025 at 5:23 PM.
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