Voters in Miami, Florida, cast ballots Tuesday in a runoff election for mayor in a race that’s grabbed plenty of national attention in recent weeks as Democrats aim to end a decades-long losing streak in red-leaning Florida.

Democrat Eileen Higgins, a former county commissioner, is facing off against Republican Emilio Gonzalez, a former city manager backed by President Donald Trump.

While the election is technically nonpartisan, the ballot box face-off has become the latest showdown this year between Democrats and Republicans, with both parties pouring in resources.

And Democrats, energized by last month’s decisive 2025 election victories and by last week’s double-digit overperformance in a special election in a red-leaning congressional district in Tennessee, are aiming for victory in Miami for an office they haven’t held in 30 years.

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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and allied groups have invested in the race.

DNC Chair Kent Martin told Fox News Digital that following last week’s “historic overperformance in Tennessee and the record Democratic momentum across the country this year,” the DNC is now “laser focused” on Miami’s mayoral runoff.

“The energy is on Democrats’ side and the DNC is all-in support of Eileen Higgins from now until Election Day,” Martin emphasized in a statement to Fox News Digital last week.

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Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Florida has been helping Gonzalez.

And Trump, over the weekend, took to social media to try and boost Gonzalez.

“Miami’s Mayor Race is Tuesday. It is a big and important race!!! Vote for Republican Gonzalez,” the president wrote.

Florida was once the largest of the general election battleground states, but has shifted dramatically to the right over the past decade.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won re-election by nearly 20 points in 2022, and Trump carried the state by 13 points in last year’s presidential election victory.

But Miami remains a rare blue oasis in the Sunshine State. Trump narrowly lost the city in last year’s presidential election, although the president won the wider Miami-Dade County by 11 points.

Higgins, a mechanical engineer and former Peace Corps director in Belize, focused on the issue of affordability and of making local government work better and faster during her campaign.

González, a veteran and senior adviser at an asset management firm, spotlighted the fight against overdevelopment and called for the elimination of property taxes for primary homes, as he bid for mayor.

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Higgins captured 36% of the vote in the Nov. 4 election, with Gonzalez coming in second at 19%, in the multi-candidate field.

The runoff winner will succeed term-limited Republican Mayor Francis Suarez, who grabbed national attention two years ago as he briefly and unsuccessfully ran for the GOP presidential nomination.

EXCLUSIVE – A North Carolina high school student said she was accused of vandalism by her school and told she was being investigated by law enforcement after she painted her school’s “spirit rock” with a religious and patriotic tribute to slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

According to a new complaint filed Monday and shared first with Fox News Digital, Gabby Stout, a junior at Ardrey Kell High School, called her school’s front office on September 12 to ask if she could paint the school spirit rock with a patriotic message honoring Kirk, who was killed two days prior. Stout was told she could do so as long as the message didn’t contain vulgarity or political speech. 

The complaint states that she and two friends proceeded to paint a heart and an American flag with the message “Freedom 1776,” and a tribute to Charlie Kirk: “Live Like Kirk—John 11:25” on September 13. The students also painted their first names on the rock.

Within hours, school officials painted over the rock, according to the complaint. On September 14, the principal sent out a school-wide message saying that the spirit rock had been painted with a message that was not authorized. The message called it an act of vandalism and a violation of the student code of conduct, saying that law enforcement had been contacted, and an investigation was underway.

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“I was completely shocked,” Stout told Fox News Digital. “I was very intimidated and scared as I had no idea what I did wrong or that I could be getting in trouble for simply sharing and expressing my views and beliefs.”

Stout sent a message the same day to school officials acknowledging she had painted the rock but had been given permission by the front office.

The next school day, she was repeatedly pulled out of class and sent to the principal’s office, where she was questioned and instructed to write a statement about what she had done and then forced to revise it after she forgot to include the Bible verse in her emotional state. She was also told to give up her cell phone to be searched, all without being advised of her constitutional rights or with legal counsel present.

“I was so scared I could barely hold my pen and write it [the statement],” she told Fox News Digital.

The following day, the district announced a revised policy for its Spirit Rock Speech Code that bans all political or religious messages and requires messages to reflect “positive school spirit,” “inclusive values,” and be in “good taste.”

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The same day, Stout’s mother was told by the principal that the investigation into her daughter had been closed, and no disciplinary action would be taken.

On October 11, the school district sent out an internal message to the Ardrey Kell High School community to “clarify” the principal’s September 14 statement. The message stated that the spirit rock incident was “not an act of vandalism,” “was not a violation of the student code of conduct” and “law enforcement was not contacted to conduct an investigation.”

The complaint alleges that the school’s statement did not acknowledge it had compelled Stout to prepare a written statement without advising her of her rights and said its claim it had not contacted law enforcement contradicted its prior statement to local news outlet WFAE. 

Stout’s parents say the school board has refused to issue a public correction to clear Gabby’s name, despite their repeated requests.

Since the incident, she has faced health problems from stress, alienation and ostracization from friends and fellow students, the complaint says. On social media, the complaint says, Stout was targeted for roughly six weeks with messages from students and others online celebrating the news that she would be investigated and disciplined. Messages celebrated the idea of Stout and her friends going to prison, labeled them as “racist thugs” and left threats like “Die like Kirk.”

The complaint, filed by Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of the student’s parents, alleges that the school’s actions and policies violated her First, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. It calls for the school to issue a public statement acknowledging these violations, for the school to remove all negative information from Stout’s school records and issue a formal letter of apology.

It also demands the school stop enforcing its vandalism and revised speech code policies regarding the spirit rock, alleging the policies enable viewpoint discrimination.

The school had allowed personal and political messages on the rock before this incident. In 2020, the school allowed students to paint a pro-Black Lives Matter message on the rock. Students painted a “black power” fist symbol along with names of individuals they believed were victims of police brutality, the complaint states. After other students painted over the BLM message, the school board held an emergency meeting and allowed students to repaint the BLM message again, this time with more political messages, including “No Justice. No Peace,” “I can’t breathe” and “End police brutality.”

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In November, school officials also facilitated a student walkout from class to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) raids, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Travis Barham told Fox News Digital.

“So they’ll facilitate that kind of left-wing student expression and not just facilitate it, but praise the students who participated,” he said. “But let Gabby express a conservative or Christian view on the spirit rock, and criminal charges fly.”

Stout told Fox News Digital she felt targeted for her beliefs.

“I don’t think it was fair what happened to me because of my beliefs or my views, which are religious and conservative,” she said. “This has never happened to another group that the school district or school has agreed with. I thought that I was going to get in trouble for sharing my views and my beliefs.”

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The complaint is brought by the student’s parents against the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. It also asks the court to award nominal and compensatory damages for the constitutional violations, attorneys’ fees and costs and any additional relief the court deems proper.

The Board declined to comment.

A Louisiana hunting trip turned tragic when a father described as having a “heart of gold” was accidentally shot and killed last month.

Garret Verdun, 45, died when a hunting rifle accidentally discharged as he and his hunting partner were walking to their hunting spots in Lafourche Parish around 4 p.m. on Nov. 29, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) said in a news release.

Verdun’s partner told LDWF the two had just crossed a cattle guard when Verdun passed him the rifle and it went off. The .308-caliber round struck Verdun, killing him before first responders arrived, officials said.

His body was turned over to the Lafourche Parish Coroner’s Office. LDWF is assisting the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office with the investigation.

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Verdun is survived by his 19-year-old  daughter Chloe, his son Ethan, and his fiancée Tiffany Hunter.

Chloe paid tribute to her father on Facebook, writing, “I wish more than anything I wouldn’t be making this post, but I’m so blessed to have shared 19 years with you. I love you forever, Dad, and always will.”

She added: “You will forever be my role model and favorite person. Until we meet again, forever will be your love bug.”

An online obituary remembered Verdun as a man with a “heart of gold” who was “ready to lend a hand or offer a comforting word,” noting that “his life, though too short, was rich with deep relationships and a boundless capacity for love.”

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It said his greatest joy came from time spent with his children, fiancée and family.

“Garret was an avid outdoorsman at heart,” the obituary continued. “He was gifted with hands of a craftsman and enjoyed carpentry and building things. Above all else, his family was his passion, always putting them first. He will be missed by all who knew him.”

The family asks that those wishing to honor Verdun to donate in his name to the Wounded Warrior Project rather than send flowers.

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LDWF reminded hunters to keep firearms unloaded and safeties engaged while traveling to and from their hunting locations.