MIAMI — The city of Miami is abandoning its effort to postpone the November election to 2026 without voter approval, ending a monthslong legal battle that suspended the city’s upcoming municipal races in a state of uncertainty.

After Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal on Friday denied the city’s request for a rehearing in an election lawsuit brought by mayoral candidate Emilio González, the city officials who pushed for the change are waving the white flag.

The City Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment about next steps. But on Tuesday, Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Damian Pardo — who championed the measure to move the city from odd- to even-year elections — said they now want to send the proposed change to voters for approval.

Suarez called for a special meeting Friday to send a referendum to the November ballot that would align the city with the national election cycle. In a statement Tuesday, he said that doing so would “save the taxpayers millions of dollars” and “increase voter participation significantly.“

“With Friday’s decision, the courts have now affirmed the primacy of the Miami-Dade County charter in matters of election scheduling for all municipalities in the county,” Suarez said. “In light of this, and to honor the will of the people, I called for a special commission meeting this Friday.”

The latest development puts an end to the uncertainty that surrounded the races for mayor and two City Commission seats. The current District 5 commissioner, Christine King, is seeking reelection, while the mayor’s seat and the District 3 seat are open. Joe Carollo, the current District 3 commissioner, is termed out at the end of the year and weighing a run for mayor. Suarez is also termed out.

In June, the City Commission voted 3-2 to pass an ordinance that moved the November 2025 election to 2026, effectively giving the city’s current elected officials an extra year in office.

But the ballot question that Suarez and Pardo hope to send to voters would not go into effect until 2032, Pardo told the Miami Herald. That means that in 2027 — when Pardo, as well as Commissioners Miguel Angel Gabela and Ralph Rosado are up for reelection — the winners would be elected to a one-time five-year term in order to align with even years.

The same would be true for candidates elected in 2029, who would stay in office until 2034, according to Pardo. After that, the terms would resume being four years.

Pardo said waiting until the next election cycle to implement the change was necessary so that people couldn’t “undermine the reform” by claiming that elected officials wanted to move to even-year elections for their personal benefit.

“That way residents can’t say we’re giving ourselves an extra year or $100,000,” Pardo said, referring to the rough annual compensation for city commissioners.

Pardo first advocated sending the question to voters back in August after three judges with the Third DCA handed down an initial order upholding a lower court’s ruling finding the city’s decision to postpone the election via ordinance was unconstitutional. But days later, the city asked for a rehearing en banc, or before the entire appellate court, which the court denied last week.

Suarez doesn’t have a vote on the five-member City Commission, so to get the question on the November ballot, Pardo will need two fellow commissioners to support him at Friday’s special meeting.

While Pardo is passionate about the move to even-year elections, he said he wasn’t certain that it will pass at the ballot box.

“Who knows, right? There’s obviously a lot of opposition to this,” Pardo said. “The kind of change we’re making here is a seismic shift.”

González, the former city manager who sued the city over the election date change, said Tuesday that he hasn’t been informed yet by the city that it was suspending its legal efforts but that he was relieved to hear that was the case.

“Finally,” González said. “Closure.”

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