One Miami lawyer just shredded corrupt commissioners with a lawsuit that has Ron DeSantis cheering

Miami’s power-hungry politicians thought they could get away with murder.

They tried to cancel their own election and give themselves another year in office.

But one Miami lawyer just shredded corrupt commissioners with a lawsuit that has Ron DeSantis cheering.

Miami commissioners try to pull off Venezuelan-style power grab

The Miami City Commission thought they could pull a fast one on voters this week.

These corrupt politicians voted to cancel their own November election and postpone it until November 2026.

That means the current mayor and two city commissioners get to stay in power for an extra year without facing voters.

It’s the kind of authoritarian move you’d expect from a third-world dictatorship, not a major American city.

Tallahassee-based attorney Jason Gonzalez wasn’t having any of it.

Gonzalez filed a bombshell lawsuit this week on behalf of mayoral candidate Emilio González challenging the city’s outrageous power grab.

“This kind of thing, you’d hear of in third-world dictatorships like Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua,” Gonzalez said during an interview on Florida’s Voice Radio with Drew Steele. “But there was immediate shock that they thought they could do this.”¹

The brazen commissioners claimed they had the authority to cancel their own election based on some dusty provisions from Florida’s 1885 constitution.

But Gonzalez saw right through their scheme.

“The city commissioners were attempting to cancel their own election and give themselves an additional year in office,” Gonzalez said. “They had a wrongful reading of some provisions of an antiquated 1885 constitution and a few statutes.”¹

DeSantis and state officials blast Miami’s authoritarian overreach

Governor Ron DeSantis didn’t mince words when he heard about Miami’s election cancellation scheme.

“It is wrong for incumbent politicians to cancel elections and unilaterally extend their terms in office,” DeSantis posted. “It also runs afoul of term limits.”²

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier fired off a scathing legal opinion telling the commissioners they had no authority to pull this stunt.

“You cannot do this. This is America,” Uthmeier wrote in a formal opinion. “You would need, at the very least, a voter referendum.”¹

Uthmeier also sent a letter demanding the commissioners reverse their vote.

“Home to thousands of patriotic Cuban Americans who know better than most about regimes that cavalierly delay elections and prolong their terms in power, the City of Miami owes to its citizens what the law requires,” Uthmeier wrote.²

The Attorney General’s warning couldn’t have been clearer.

But the Miami commissioners decided they were above the law and moved forward with their power grab anyway.

Lawsuit exposes commissioners’ Venezuelan-style tactics

That’s when attorney Jason Gonzalez stepped in to save Miami’s democracy.

Gonzalez filed his lawsuit on behalf of Emilio González, a former Miami city manager who was preparing to run for mayor in the now-canceled election.

The lawsuit pulls no punches in describing the commissioners’ authoritarian tactics.

“The commissioners unconstitutionally bypassed the democratic will of the people in a way that the Florida Constitution, the Miami-Dade Charter, and the City’s Charter expressly prohibit,” the lawsuit states.²

But the most devastating part of the lawsuit compares Miami’s commissioners to the very dictators that so many Miami residents fled from.

“Reminiscent of regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, or Cuba – the very places so many of Miami’s people come from – those in power, while in power, forced upon those voters what they think is best for elections going forward – and secured for themselves additional time in power, without a vote of the electorate,” the lawsuit continues. “That cannot stand.”²

Gonzalez isn’t backing down from this fight even though he usually represents government entities.

“Most of the time we’re on the government side,” Gonzalez said. “But this was an overreach that had to be stopped.”¹

Miami commissioners’ pathetic excuses fall flat

The Miami commissioners tried to justify their power grab with weak excuses about saving money and increasing voter turnout.

They claimed moving the election to align with federal elections would save the city about $1 million and boost participation.

But nobody’s buying these pathetic excuses.

If Miami’s commissioners really cared about saving money, they’d cut their own bloated salaries instead of canceling elections.

And if they cared about voter turnout, they’d focus on giving voters someone worth voting for instead of rigging the system to stay in power.

The truth is Miami’s commissioners got greedy and thought they could get away with extending their own terms without asking voters.

They figured they could hide behind some obscure constitutional provisions and hope nobody would challenge them.

But they picked the wrong fight with the wrong attorney.

What this means for democracy in Florida

This lawsuit isn’t just about one corrupt city commission trying to extend their terms.

It’s about whether elected officials in America can cancel elections whenever they feel like it.

If Miami’s commissioners get away with this authoritarian scheme, what’s to stop other corrupt politicians from trying the same thing?

Governor DeSantis and Attorney General Uthmeier deserve credit for immediately calling out this power grab.

But it’s going to take attorney Jason Gonzalez’s lawsuit to actually stop these commissioners from shredding Miami’s democracy.

“We’ll ask a judge for a hearing pretty soon to try to enjoin the operation of this ordinance,” Gonzalez said. “If the people want to vote in a referendum to move their election, that’s one thing. But city officials do not get to give themselves more time in power.”¹

Gonzalez is absolutely right.

In America, politicians don’t get to cancel elections just because they’re worried about losing.

The people of Miami deserve to have their voices heard at the ballot box in November, not when corrupt commissioners decide it’s convenient for them.

This lawsuit can’t succeed fast enough.

¹ Christina Schuler, “Attorney Jason Gonzalez sues city of Miami over election delay, calls move ‘third world tactic’,” Florida’s Voice, July 3, 2025.

² Jim Mishler, “Miami Election Delay Sparks Lawsuit, Criticism From DeSantis,” Newsmax, July 6, 2025.