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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Some Miami-Dade residents voted for a new county commissioner Tuesday.
There was a runoff election to fill the empty District 5 seat previously held by Bruno Barreiro, who resigned to run for U.S. Congress.
The two candidates are Zoraida Barreiro, the former commissioner’s wife, and Eileen Higgins, a marketing executive.
Late Tuesday the results came in that Higgins defeated Barreiro to claim the commission seat. She received 53% of the vote.
Higgins finished first in the four-candidate primary back in May and Barreiro came in second, but neither received 50-percent of the total vote prompting the run-off race.
Residents who live in parts of Miami Beach, Brickell, Little Havana, Coral Way, and West Flagler were able to participate in the vote.
District 5 has about 95,000 registered voters, roughly 7 percent of the county’s voter total.
Approximately 14% of those registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s runoff election.
Higgins will now finish out Barreiro’s remaining two years on the 13-seat commission.
To see a map of the district, click here.