Alix Desulme earns full term as North Miami Mayor with commanding runoff win

Image via Alix Desulme.

North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme is sticking around.

He won a runoff race with nearly 68% of the vote, outpacing opponent Héctor Medina by 2,010 votes to keep the job his City Council colleagues appointed him to two years ago.

Desulme told Florida Politics he was “overwhelmed” by the support he received this cycle, including a 90% share of voters from District 4, which he represented on the Council from 2015 to 2022, who cast ballots for him Tuesday.

“It shows my campaign’s message and everything we were saying about our vision for the city’s future really resonated with the voters,” he said.

Desulme ran on a platform prioritizing responsible budgeting, addressing housing costs, public safety, supporting small businesses and boosting public safety.

He also focused on improving North Miami’s infrastructure, including plans to replace an aging water plant, develop the city’s west side and address street flooding.

Desulme said those infrastructure projects are his tier-one priorities for his first full term.

“My focus is to work on getting us through that,” he said. “That’s the big agenda item. That’s No. 1.”

Desulme made history in 2009 as the first Black person to work as North Miami Clerk. He won election to the Council’s District 4 seat six years later. The district covers North Miami’s westernmost portion.

On Dec. 13, 2022, 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 to the city mayoralty.

The Council also agreed then to postpone the city’s election 18 months to Nov. 5, 2024, to coincide with the General Election.

Medina and other North Miami residents sued the city, Desulme and longtime Council member Scott Galvin to force the city to hold its elections in May 2023. Medina argued the Council violated the city’s charter in making the change, which he called “un-American.”

The suit was unsuccessful.

Desulme launched a campaign in February to keep the job, which is largely symbolic as the city operates in a council-manager form of government similar to the city of Miami.

Two others competed with him and Medina: former state lawmaker Daphne Campbell, who narrowly defeated Desulme twice for a House seat in 2010 and 2012; and past mayoral candidate Hector Medina, a retired doctor.

Desulme led the pack with 7,226 after a recount on Nov. 12. Medina placed second with 4,450 votes, just 42 votes more than Campbell.

Neither secured a large enough share of the vote — 50% plus 1 — to win outright, prompting a runoff.

Two others won North Miami Council seats Tuesday. In the race to succeed Galvin in the District 1 seat he held for 25 years, former Mayor Kevin Burns defeated Vanessa Pierre with 63% of the vote.

In the District 4 race, Council member Pierre Frantz Charles bested challenger Daniel Calixte with 75% of the vote.

North Miami has 31,793 registered voters, according to county records. Just 18% of them voted Tuesday.