Free Republic

Miami Beach residents elected a Republican mayor in Tuesday’s runoff election after Steven Meiner won the race by an eight point margin. Republican Miami Beach Commissioner Steven Meiner faced off against Democrat Michael Góngora in Tuesday’s runoff race. He won the hearts of Miami Beach residents after largely channeling a Trump-esque law and order platform, putting an emphasis on “protecting our residents, reducing crime,” and wanting “a safer city.” “Reducing crime, a safer city, mitigating traffic, responsible development, not overdevelopment, resiliency issues that we need to address,” Meiner said, according to NBC Miami. “I just kept talking about it and...

Early election results from Iran indicate that the country elected on Friday another crop of hardline officials, including those who have expressed hatred for the United States and Israel and who stand accused of planning the murder of political opponents, according to information provided by organizations that observed the elections. As the names of those officials who won a seat on Iran’s Assembly of Experts and other governing bodies begins to emerge, experts say it is becoming clear that hardline extremists will continue to control the Iranian government. While some western media outlets have claimed that reformists made inroads in...

Judicial elections generally don't gain much notice, but one such race in California has drawn national attention as it prepares to place the country's first openly transgender judge on the bench. Victoria Kolakowski, who had a sex-change operation in 1991, has declared victory in a highly contested election for the Alameda County Superior Court. According to the final, uncertified tally, the 49-year-old has defeated rival John Creighton, with 162,082 votes to his 152,546, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "There's never been a transgender judge that anyone we know is aware of," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California,...