‘Excited to continue our work’: Alix Desulme announces bid to remain North Miami Mayor

North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme doesn’t plan on going anywhere.

He’s officially running to keep the job his City Council colleagues appointed him to after the November 2022 election.

The decision that year included postponing the city’s election 18 months to Nov. 5, 2024, to coincide with the General Election.

Since then, Desulme’s campaign said, he has overseen “transformative” quality-of-life initiatives, including expanded public transit, eco-friendly changes and programs to help low-income and senior residents with affordability issues.

He now wants to build on those accomplishments during a full two-year term.

“Together, we’ve turned challenges into opportunities, proving that unity and collective effort can lead to remarkable achievements,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “As we look to the future, I am excited to continue our work, making North Miami a beacon of hope, resilience, and innovation.”

On Dec. 13, just over a month after former Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime lost a runoff for the Miami-Dade County Commission, the North Miami Council voted unanimously to elevate Desulme, then a Council member, to the city mayoralty. Desulme, a past Vice Mayor, had served on the Council since 2015 and was the city’s elected Clerk before that.

Aside from providing the officeholder a more prominent platform, the position of North Miami Mayor is largely symbolic as the city operates in a council-manager form of government similar to the city of Miami.

Three people are now running to unseat Desulme, an education consultant and adjunct professor at St. Thomas University, in the city’s Nov. 5 election: accountant and 2022 Agriculture Commissioner candidate Naomi Blemur, retired doctor and past mayoral candidate Hector Medina and former state lawmaker Daphne Campbell, who narrowly defeated Desulme twice for a House seat in 2010 and 2012.

Campbell lost her Senate seat to fellow Democrat Jason Pizzo, who last year won a race to lead Senate Democrats in 2024. She filed to run for North Miami Mayor in June 2022, before the City Council moved to forgo the Mayor’s race. She refiled last month.