A Democrat won the Miami mayor's race for the first time in decades over a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump, and CNN's Harry Enten said that's the latest example of an unmistakeable trend.
Eileen Higgins campaigned as a proud Democrat against the Trump-backed candidate Emilio Gonzalez, breaking the Republican Party's three-decade grip on the mayor's office, and Enten told "CNN News Central" that races across the country have been breaking strongly against the GOP compared to last year's election.
"Thiswas just such a big shift to the Democrats," Enten said. "I mean, Kamala Harriswon Miami, but just by a point,there was a huge shift towards Donald Trump. This was in Miami – Joe Biden had carried Miami bynearly 20 points, and Harrisonly won it by one, and all of asudden, look at this: It's a 19-point win for Higgins. That isan 18-point shift in over injust a year's time, and, ofcourse, it is just the latestshift that we're seeing. Thatis what I think is so importantgoing on here."
Similar trends played out in last month's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, where Democratic candidates won by outperforming Harris just one year before.
"We have seen itacross the political map, wherebyover and over and over again,the baseline from 2024, Democrats are consistentlyoutperforming it 10-15, nearly 20points in this case," Enten said.
The Miami race was particularly interesting because it showed how much support the president has lost from Latino voters in his first year in office, Enten said.
"If you know anything about Miami, you know it's heavily Hispanic, heavily Latino," Enten said, "andwhat we have seen is that Democrats, excuse me, Latinoshave absolutely gone up andsaid, you know what? I don'tlike what Donald Trump is doing.I mean, just look at Donald Trump's net approval among Latinos in February, it wasminus two points, not too hot totrot, but not that bad either.Look at where it is now: minus-38points. That is a shift of 36points in the wrong direction, the completely wrong directionfor Donald Trump, and what therace in Miami illustrates. I waslooking at the localities – locality by locality bylocality, what you see is thesehuge shift in these heavily Hispanic neighborhoods of Miamiagainst against the Republicannominee from the Donald Trumpbaseline, and so to me, this isan encapsulation of what we see."
Latino voters also turned against Trump in a special election earlier this year in Arizona, which confirms what polls have been finding about their approval for the president's second term, and Enten said he's been especially damaging to big-city mayoral candidates.
"This to me is part of alonger, larger arc, and, youknow, you just look at this," Enten said. "GOPmayors in the 50 largest citiesin 2017, it was about 14. Nowwith Higgins coming in, it'sseven, it's seven. Donald Trumphas been absolute kryptonite to Republicans who want to runmajor cities in the United States. There are very few. Theyare an endangered, endangeredspecies."